


Arianna's Quest - Happiness is a Battlefield

by Kindred_Spirit



Category: Cirque du Freak | The Saga of Darren Shan - Darren Shan, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Past Abuse, Threats of all kinds, Vampirism, Violence, What do i even put in here?, mentions of abuse, so much pain, why do i hurt my ocs like this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-02-17 23:53:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13088094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kindred_Spirit/pseuds/Kindred_Spirit
Summary: Arianna, 18, about to graduate. Well, that won't be happening. Read as she meets creatures and people that lived in only your imagination. Read as she comes out of her shell. Grow with her as she stands up for herself and for others. Arianna Shan has a long journey ahead for her. Sensitive content, contains some abuse, dark thoughts, dark humor, flirting, fighting, and more.





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! 
> 
> I recently got into one of my favourite movies once I found out it was on Netflix. Which made me, super friggen happy. I'm writing this in the character's POV again, I find I'm pretty decent at that, but I'm replacing a all the characters in the Shan family. I didn't really like the way Darren expressed himself, he seemed to emotionally dead in my opinion, and I'm going to be replacing Anne (his young sister) with 2 other kids instead. And instead of killing the person who is to become Crepsley's assistant, she's just going to leave since she's going to be older than 16. Or however old Darren was. Steve will also be older, so they're going through their last year of high school. Anyway, on with the show! 
> 
> -Ari

It was never my intention to hurt the people I care about. Honestly, who plans to hurt those closest to them? 

Don't answer that. 

Perhaps I should explain a bit more. My name is Arianna Silva Shan, I have long red hair (it goes down to the middle of my back for those wondering), greenish blue eyes that according to some people either seem to sparkle when I'm happy or look dull otherwise. To be honest, that's why Steve and I got along so well together. We had similar childhoods. Well, in a way. My father was a respected person, head of IT in some large-scale company that I didn’t care about, and he loved my sisters. Treasured them you could say. I was the black sheep of the family. While my sisters had his curly brown hair a bright piercing blue eyes, and most of his and his wife's personality quirks, I had my mother's red hair. Her's was more orange and mine is more auburn but you get the picture. I have my father's eyes but with my mom's green colour mixed in, and only a couple quirks of his personality. His frigid temper, and being able to handle most technologies rather easily. 

Otherwise I was more like my mom. I'm sure I'm not making any sense. My mom died when she gave birth to me. I was coming out breached (ass backwards as I like to say) and something went wrong when they took her in for a c-section. As I grew up and started to look and act more like my mom, my dad distanced himself further and further from me. He became cold, never expressed his feelings, always stared or glared at me. When I reached the age of 8, he became abusive. He would push me down the stairs, push me into walls, pin me down in the tub while I was fully clothed and attempt to drown me in freezing cold water whenever I did something he didn't like. Which was quite often to tell you the truth. This continued on until I was about 16. He had his second and third daughters. Twins. And he loved them so much. 

I can admit to being jealous, but even so, the twins made even me happy. His wife was surprisingly very kind towards me, and made sure I was taken care of. However anytime I even heard my father in the house or coming into the house I'd hide in my room. It was when I was 16 that I bumped into a guy named Steve Leonard. Black hair, warm brown eyes, quite cute but I wasn’t interested in him in that way surprisingly. I mean he was pretty damn attractive but just not my hearts type. We became quick best friends. Whenever someone would bully me (which I admit was quite often, people pick on gingers it seems), Steve would usually stick up for me by punching them in the face. We would then get in trouble and so on the process repeating. 

I just wish I didn't hurt him with my decisions. 

At M. Beckmann High School – 8:15 am 

As I quietly walked through the gates to the school, I smoothly moved my way through the cliques and crowds in front of the white double doors. I bobbed my head slightly to the music playing through the headphones attached to my phone, a remix of Sugarplum Fairy easing my nerves to get me through the day. I finally stopped at my locker, number 665. 

'16-89-02.' I rehearsed my lock combination code in my head. I kept my mind pleasantly blank, enjoying the hush before I needed to get to class. I placed my messenger bag on the floor and took out all of my books to place them on the shelf inside the metal locker, grabbed my messenger bag and hoisted it over my shoulder, then headed to my history class in first period. As the students cleared out as the bell rang, I made my way up the stairs, and just as I was about to walk into the classroom while simultaneously shutting off my phone, a hand grabbed the back of my sweater and pulled me back. 

"Hey!" I heard someone softly call towards me as I was pulled back. I paused and looked to my right and smiled upon seeing that it was Steve. 

"Hey, what's up?" I asked quietly. He smiled and glanced at the classroom I was about to enter. 

"Let's, uh let's cut this one today." Steve offered with an impish grin. I rolled my eyes with a groan. 

"We're already here Steve, let's just suck it up and go in." He scrunched his face together and we both peered around the door to see the teacher, Mr. Kersey. 

"All right folks." Mr. Kersey started as he placed his right hand on top of the chalkboard, then suddenly dragging his hand down and across as he turned to hold his hand up in a claw formation after causing the chalkboard to screech from his nails scratching it. "What’cha got for me?" 

I winced and looked at Steve. "Okay, listen, I cannot deal with that jerk today. All right Miss. Vampire?" 

I sighed and nodded, he grinned triumphantly and dragged me to our favourite hiding spot on top of the roof. As soon as we climbed up the stairs and snuck through the door to the rooftop. I shoved myself deeper into my dark blue Doctor Who sweater, hiding my skin from the sun. I should explain, I'm allergic to the sun. I can be exposed to it but it causes me to break out in rashes and causes blisters if I'm exposed to often or for too long. I don't like the heat either but I deal with it the best I can. I watched with a small smile as Steve threw rocks at the hanging lights, missing all of his shots which made me chuckle. He paused and held a rock for a moment before turning and looking at me. 

"So, I was thinking about moving to Mexico. Wanna go?" I laughed and shook my head. 

"Sorry, too hot. Pick someplace cooler and maybe." He laughed and shook his before throwing the rock he held in his hand. This time it hit one of the hanging lights, causing it to burst and for glass to shatter and land on the roofs flooring. I snorted in amusement at his grin. 

"Oh shit!" My amusement quickly grew into making me laugh. "Hey man, I bet you can't hit one of those lights form all the way back here." I shook my head no, knowing we'd get in trouble. 

"No way dude, we'll get in trouble!" 

"Aww dude, we're gunna get in trouble." He said mockingly. I rolled my eyes and held out my hand. He smirked and placed the rock on my gloved hand and as I stood up, moved away to give me space to throw. I wound my arm back and pitched the rock forwards, the rock soared through the air and I watched in fascination as the rock actually hit the light with a loud crash. I looked at Steve worriedly and as we heard the door to the roof suddenly burst open and out walked the principle with Mr. Kersey right behind her. I felt my eyes widened and as Steve and I shared a look, I knew I was going to be in seriously big trouble, at home. 

Home – 4pm 

As I walked through the front door of what is called home, I realized just how quiet it was. I knew someone was home, but based on the deathly silent house, I worried if it was my father. Heavy footsteps came towards me from the living room and as the light hit my father, his tall and thick frame took up most of the doorway. All 6-foot 6-inches of him glared down at my own 5-foot 6-inch frame. I was quite small, mostly thin but not stick thin. I guess I was filled out and thankfully for gym, had no muffin top or love rolls as my step mom liked to call them. As I stood there staring at him frozen in fear, he finally spoke. 

"I got a call from your school today." His cold and emotionless voice washed over me, making me feel as though I just got soaked in ice cold water and then electrified. "They told me you were breaking school property with that kid again. Have I not told you before that you are not allowed to be near him or hang out with him?" 

I swallowed thickly, unsure as to whether or not I was supposed to answer. I stayed quiet as he moved closer, his cold and piercing blue eyes glaring at me, making me feel as though I was about to be tried and executed. 

"Well?" I felt my chest tighten as my anxiety and panic began to fill my chest cavity and make it hard to breathe, but I couldn’t run. My punishment would have been made worse. 

"Y-yes sir." I barely managed to stutter out as his eyes narrowed. Then, without me even seeing it, his hand grabbed my arm and yanked me towards the stairs. I began crying and screaming, my panic bubbling out of my body, grabbing onto anything and everything I could to avoid or stop him, something that would make him let go so I could run. His grip instead tightened more, if any tighter it might just snap the bones in my wrist. He made short work of the distance to the bathroom and shoved me into the tub, my head cracking against the wall harshly causing me to see little music notes and different colours fly through my eyes. I felt my father shove me further into the tub and grab the shower head while turning on the cold water. I could barely focus, I barely even realized I was still fighting him, trying to get away as he placed a foot on my back and pressed down leaving me hardly any air to breath, his free hand tangled in my hair and his voice was muffled as he screamed at me. I wasn't too sure how long this went on as he started kicking me. His foot kicking into my left side caused me to try and curl up, but the pressure and lack of space or actual movement made me unable to. 

'Please daddy, please stop...' I pleaded in my mind, my lips trembling and body shivering. I wondered if I had actually said it out loud as he shut the water off and stood up to put the shower-head back in its place. He glared down at me and walked away. I laid there in the tub for a few more moments before slowly moving and pushing myself up. I stripped out of my clothes and left them in the tub before walking over to the door and locking it, knowing if I had dripped water onto the floor, I would receive another punishment. I turned the shower back on, but this time I made the water as hot as I could handle it. I stood there and observed the quickly forming bruises on my wrist, sides, and legs; I had no doubts that there were some on my back as well. Once I finished washing myself gingerly and bandaging my wrist and side, I wrapped a towel around my body, grabbed the clothes I was previously wearing and sneaked into my bedroom. I locked the door and quickly put on a pair of fuzzy pajama pants with the Grinch on them, a set of black with red lace bra and thong, and a black tank top quickly followed by an Avenge Sevenfold sweater. I turned on the fan in my room and looked at the clock. It read that it was 6:30 pm. I gazed blankly at a wall straight ahead of me, my mind burying everything that happened down further into that dark abyss of subconsciousness. 

Without realizing it, hours had passed, and my body gave out on me as I collapsed backwards into my bed in a fitful sleep.


	2. Vampy!

I jolted awake, my body immediately moving into a sitting position as sweat covered my body, making my clothes damp and my hair stick to my face. I looked around quickly, and upon seeing no danger I sighed and fell back with a wince. I pulled my sweater off, the purple and black bruises practically glowed against my pale skin on my arms and I even had one on my collarbone that led up to the middle of my neck. I looked down and saw that I had kicked off my pants in my sleep which also showed bruising down the skin of my legs, blotches of black here and there, and upon lifting my tank top, I saw the molted purple, blue, and black of where my father kicked me the most. I groaned and glared up at the ceiling, tears gently and silently spilling down the sides of my face. I looked over at the clock by my bed and saw that it read 5 am. I sniffled slightly and made myself get up and dressed for the day. Throwing on a pair of black soft tights that also covered my feet, a pair of black flats, a pair of black jean shorts over top of said tights, and a red tank top followed by a plain black sweater. 

I grabbed my messenger bag and opened the window to my room, climbed out very quietly, closed the window behind me, and scaled down the side of the house where we had this vine thing that made the house look nice on the outside. I jumped the last few feet and landed with a soft grunt. I stayed crouched and waited to make sure nobody stirred or knew that I left this early. Upon waiting for about 5 minutes, I walked to the side walk and began the trek to school. 

Today was going to be a long day. 

I finally made it to the park close to Steve's place about 15 minutes later and placed my bag down on the ground as a makeshift pillow beneath a large spruce tree. I pulled out my phone and set it for 7:45 which would let me rest for about 2 hours. I sighed and closed my eyes. 

2 hours later – 7:50 am 

I cracked my eyes open and glanced around at my surroundings, noticing that it was brighter than it was a while ago. I pulled my phone out and saw that it was now 7:50 which caused me to jolt up, grab my bag and take off running towards Steve's home. I managed to make the 10-minute trek in just a few minutes and as I slowed down in front of his house, he came walking out the door with a clouded expression of anger and sadness on his face. I put a masked smile on my face, one that I've perfected over the years to hide the pain, sadness, and anything negative I was feeling. 

"He Steve!" He looked up and immediately started smiling at me. 

"Hey Miss. Vampire!" I pouted upon his nickname for me escaping his mouth. 

"Why do you insist on calling me that, man?" I complained jokingly. 

"Because you can't be in the sun for long which makes you pale, and because of your hair." He responded instantly. I pouted more before a genuine smile broke out and spread on my lips. We laughed slightly and began walking to school as he told me what happened between him and his mom after he got home. Once he finished explaining that his mom just told him not to do it again before drinking once more, he became quiet and sighed. 

"How did your dad take the news." He stated as if he knew already. I kept a pleasant smile on my face, meanwhile on the inside I was feeling my chest tighten and trying to strangle me once more. 

"He took it okay. Tried to tell me that I wasn't allowed to be friends with you, I told him I'd be friends with whomever I chose to, and he took it well." Steve stared at me in disbelief. Immediately my smile dropped and as I stopped at the bars of the schools fence I stared at him with tears in my eyes. "He took it very badly Steve. Very. Badly." 

Steve looked at me apologetically and pulled me in for a hug, I was barely able to keep the cry of pain quiet, and Steve pulled away quickly upon realizing that I was in a lot of pain. He gazed at me worriedly. I subtly shifted and moved my left wrist to show him where I was hurt. First I shifted my wrist, then rubbed my stomach and sides then shifted my legs. By then he was glaring at the ground, tears slightly in his eyes. 

"It's not your fault. And I swear to god if you ever think or say it is, I will prank the living daylights out of you." He chuckled at my poor excuse of a threat and pulled me in for a hug much more gently this time. I accepted it and gazed over his shoulder, only to see an odd-looking limousine driving slowly down the street. I pulled away softly and stared at the car as it came closer and closer. Both of us stared at it as the car slowed to a stop next to us, the window opened a bit and a flier was thrown out. The car quickly drove away and the paper that was thrown out fluttered to the ground next to us. I picked it up and looked at it in wonder. 

"Dude! Cirque du Freak – One night only. The world's greatest freak show." I read it out loud before a number caught my attention. "500 years?! What the hell?" 

"Dude, that looks awesome!" Steve said excitedly. I grinned at him and showed him the flier. 

"We should totally go Steve!" I told him happily. Steve grinned at me. 

"We are totally going tonight. I'll cover you." My grin turned into a thankful smile as I pulled him in for another hug, surprising him but he hugged me back with a laugh. We walked happily to class, talking excitedly about the show and what there might be. As we finally go into class, I put the flier into my history book so I could look over the design and actual ad a bit better. However, as I was looking at it 30 minutes later, Mr. Kersey came over and pulled it out of the book I wasn't even looking at. 

"What's this? A freak show? This is illegal." He stated harshly before looking back at me. "I hope you weren't thinking of attending this." 

I didn't reply as he walked away from me and addressed the whole class. "Because the idea of taking a group of disgusting, weird, deformed people and exploiting them for money... Not in our town." 

"Just because they aren't like the rest of society doesn’t mean that they are disgusting or weird or deformed. They are still people Mr. Kersey." I stood up angrily, my normally dull green/blue eyes an ice blue as I glared sharply. Mr. Kersey glared at me right back. 

"Sit back down, and all of you get back to the study session." I sat there and refused to do any of my work for the rest of the class. As soon as the bell rang, I packed up my things and left the school. I wasn't going to stay there if I didn't have to. Nobody deserved to be treated like that. Once I made it home about 25 minutes later, I quickly picked up the phone and called my father. 

"Jameson Shan speaking." I swallowed my panic at the sound of his voice, a light sheen of sweat breaking out over my quivering body. 

"Hey dad. I just wanted to let you know I'm home early because Mr. Kersey kicked me out for disagreeing with him about how people are described." I held my breath as the silence on the other end lasted longer than it should have. 

"Fine. The house better be clean by the time I get home then if you're not attending the rest of today." His voice told me emotionlessly. I told him it would be before saying good bye and hanging up, letting out the breath I was holding. I felt the tightening of my chest ease up as my anxiety left my body slowly. I began to clean starting in the living room and worked my way through the house. By the time 6 pm rolled around, I was finally finished and grabbed some clean clothes, a pair of black shorts, a black halter 50's styled dress, and a black set of bra and thong once again, and put on a long-sleeved black shirt with a red scarf around my neck to hide the bruises. I moved to the shower quickly and cleaned myself up, using the gentle and lightly scented citrus shampoo, shaved, and dried myself off before quickly getting dressed. I put some eyeliner and mascara on, then looked at my hair. For once it dried perfectly. The normally untamed mass of curls that I pulled into a bun usually, was now still curled but framed my face gently, causing my normally dull eyes to almost sparkle an emerald green. I smiled and left the bathroom with my dirty clothes, and snuck back into my room. I stayed there for the next couple of hours pretending I was asleep (as I normally was anyhow) and as soon as it was quiet in the house, I looked at the clock. 11:00pm. 

The show was about to start in 30 minutes. I grinned excitedly and pulled my flats one once again before climbing out the window quietly. I climbed down the vine thing once more then jogged over to Steve. He smiled excitedly at me and gestured to the bars on his rear bike wheel. 

"Ready?" I asked. He nodded and began to bike slowly, and using one foot to push us forward faster, the other on the metal bar on the wheel to help him along. Soon enough, we were biking around the corner of my street, taking another right turn, and biking down the long strip of road towards the old abandoned theatre. I held onto Steve's shoulders and felt like nothing could stop my grin. I felt so free right now. Like nothing could hurt me again, like I was finally getting away from everything with my best friend right beside me. I laughed out loud, Steve's laugh joining in with mine as we turned another corner, this street leading to a more deserted alley way, and finally we turned once more onto the street that housed the closed down theatre. I hopped off and wobbled a little next to Steve. He was staring up at the moon, and upon being nudged I also looked up. 

"Did you know that it means something when the moon looks like that?" He asked me. I laughed as I gazed up at the white moon with the top quarter of it a blood red, almost looking like a fingernail. 

"Let me guess, you read it in one of your vampire books?" I said teasingly. He rolled his eyes and chuckled with me. Steve was obsessed with vampires, and as interesting as some of the facts were, I wasn’t interested in vampires or anything to do with them for that matter. I preferred wolves to be honest. They were such beautiful creatures. We walked over to the ticket booth and saw a sign reading 'Back in 3 seconds.' 

"Back in three seconds? One. Two. Three. It's been three seconds." I waited for a moment, and just as I glanced at Steve, a creaking and slam made me look down and notice a little door along with a little slip of paper with the word money written on it. 

"Uh.." Steve gave off a slightly chuckle. "I guess they want money." 

He reached into his pocket and pulled out $40 to pay for the tickets and brought it down to the little door. "Hey, I, uh... I need two tickets, please." 

A little person quickly peeked out and grabbed the money before shutting the door once more. We waited a moment and when nothing happened Steve got annoyed while I became more amused. 

"Hey. Hey! Hey, come on. I gave you the money, give me the tickets." Steve quickly leaned down and opened the door and held out his hand. It was immediately grabbed and bitten into by a grey clothed little person. Steve gave out a yelp of pain and yanked his hand back and sucked on the wound to try to clean it. I had jumped back in surprise, a gasp escaping my dark pale pink lips. 

"Oh my god, what the hell was that?" I asked him nervously. Another moment later of us staring at the door in silence, the door opened once more and the person dropped two tickets onto the ground. Steve tried to call after the person as I picked up the tickets. 

"Are you okay?" I asked worriedly. He nodded and held out his hand. I handed him one of the tickets as we walked into the unlocked doors of the theatre. 

As we entered the theatre, we walked towards the lights leading to the stage area. 

The show was about to begin.


	3. Are you 21?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All my stories are on Fanfiction under my pen name. Due to some difficulties in trying to upload, I am posting them here in hope for people to be able to enjoy them. My pen name of FFN is Aries331.

Steve and I walked quietly, well I was quiet, over to the area that held the stage. I could see some lighting coming from a curtained doorway, and upon walking through we were greeted by a very tall man. He was taller than my father, if I had to guess I'd assume 10 maybe even 12 feet tall. I felt like a midget. The tall man almost seemed to grin at me, almost as if he could hear my thoughts. I blushed slightly and mentally put up a wall to keep my thoughts quiet and locked up. 

"Are you two 21?" He asked us in a deep gravely voice. Steve stared up at him still, his mouth still slightly open in shock. 

"Are you 21?" He asked again, dragging out the 'a' in are. We didn’t answer just yet. "Say yes." 

I tried not to giggle as Steve and I automatically said yes. 

"Good. You don't have a tendency towards panic, sudden cardiac arrest, or crippling anxiety, do you?" I wanted to say no but I knew that I suffered from anxiety attacks. The tall man gazed at me and smiled softly almost winking if the sparkle in his eyes had anything to say. "Say no." 

Steve and I once again said no, me with a bit more hesitance in my voice. 

"All right, then." The tall man held out his hand waiting for us to hand him our tickets. I gently placed my ticket between one of his fingers along with Steve's, he moved his hand in a circular motion and the tickets were suddenly gone. My eyes widened slightly in wonder and curiosity, a silent wow escaping my lips. He grinned, bowed, and gestured towards the stage area. 

"Go head in. Show's about to start." I smiled and curtseyed slightly towards him before walking forwards and down to the chairs set up around the stage. As we sat down in the front row in the last couple of chairs in the middle on the left side facing the stage, the lights dimmed and a weird looking trumpet played as the light in the middle of the stage flicked on, a green light shining on the tall man from before. He smiled pleasantly. 

"Welcome. Welcome to the Cirque du Freak, the oldest continuously operating freak show in the Western Hemisphere. We have toured for 500 years, bringing the bizarre to generation after generation." He told the crowd elegantly and mysteriously. "May I present.... The Wolf Man!" 

Immediately the trumpets played once again, a creature was crouched in the stage area and as he gave out a tremendous roar, I gasped slightly in surprise and other people screamed in fear and shock. The tall man motioned the wolf man to come closer while clicking and told the crowd not to make any sudden noises. Everybody was deathly silent as the Wolf Man walked around the front row of people. As he passed us, I kept my breathing very quiet, Steve leaned over slowly and quietly whispered to me, "He totally just scratched his balls." 

I bit down hard on my bottom lip causing it to bleed into my mouth slightly to prevent myself from laughing. The wolf man paused by a blond gorgeous woman, and for a moment I was worried it could smell the blood. A sudden cracking sound echoed in the theatre causing the wolf man to roar viciously and bite the blond woman's arm, ripping it off viciously. Steve stared horrified as I watched on worriedly with the urge to jump up and help causing my body to tense. 

"Call an ambulance!" Somebody yelled as people screamed in terror or disgust. 

"It's okay. That's not necessary." The tall man said calmly. The man clicked again and the wolf man dropped the arm he had ripped off, while panting happily. "Good boy. And stay!" 

Upbeat music began to play and I breathed a quiet sigh of relief when I saw the pretty blond lady stand up. She stood in front of everyone and showed her arm to the crowd. I watched in fascination as it quickly grew back in moments, the bones, veins, muscles, and skin all wrapping around and finally showed her arm had grown back completely. I clapped excitedly. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, the enchanting recycling queen, Corma Limbs!" The tall man said exuberantly. Corma Limbs used her ripped off hand to kiss and wave to the crowd. "And now, our resident hunger artist, Alexander Ribs!" 

A tall black male slid his way from between the wolf man's legs and upon stripping off his gold jacket, I couldn’t help but wonder what made him special. He stripped off his white shirt and revealed his mid-section was bare, and by bare, I mean I could see his spine and some of his organs too. He danced around everyone and had a light in one of his hands as he showed everyone his ribs and organs He danced towards Steve and I, pointing towards his stomach. 

"Oh look, a candy corn." He said mockingly in a teasing way which made me chuckle. He bowed to everyone and left the stage a few moments later. I grinned towards Steve as he grimaced. 

"And next, Gertha Teeth!" A cute short haired brunette came down while she bit on a hook. 'She must be able to bite through anything.' I thought to myself with a smile. "And Rhamus Twobellies!" 

"I have.... arrived." A rather large black man walked on stage, he had what seemed to honestly be two stomachs. I felt myself turn a little green at seeing some of the things Gertha was biting in two and feeding to the man with two stomachs. What I could only assume to be was about 20 minutes later, Rhamus took the blowtorch and began heating the things he ate in his stomach. I could hear Steve gagging slightly while I covered my mouth grimacing slightly. The man turned around and began coughing and gagging, a metal sound coming from his mouth and throat as he somehow managed to regurgitate a bike make out of the things he swallowed. 

"Hey! Nice bike!" Steve called out to him. I glared at him as Rhamus turned and glared at the both of us. I smiled slightly and shook my head as a way for saying it wasn’t me and sorry for the rude comment. 

"And next, Evra, the Snake Boy!" 

A tall boy who seemed to be about 15 or 16 came on stage with a snake wrapped around his shoulder. He smiled and showed everyone his snake, a 6-foot python. Once he reached the middle of the stage, they began to dance together, the snake even dancing with him. I felt myself become more nervous when I saw the snake jump out and try to bite a man on one side of the stage, then suddenly the snake was flung towards us and tried to bit Steve. I moved to the side away slightly and noticed that Evra was grinning. He then nodded and placed his snake down by the speaker. 

"Stay Bippo." I chuckled slightly at the cute name for the snake. Evra moved back to centre stage and swung his guitar around. 

"So, uh, I'm Evra Von, and, uh, we are Serpentine." He introduced himself more thoroughly. I leaned over in curiosity and asked Steve a question quietly. 

"Who's we?" Steve shrugged. 

"There'll be some CDs for sale in the lobby immediately following the show." Evra then began to play a rather good riff on the guitar, but just as he was about to get into it, the sound changed as the amplifier cut out. 

"Bippo, no!" Evra groaned in annoyance. "Bippo, drop it. Spit that out." The crowd began laughing loudly. 

"Oh yes I'm glad you're all enjoying this so much." He said sarcastically to the laughing crowd. I felt bad for him and frowned in understanding. The tall man walked over and they began to talk in hushed voices. Evra then stormed off the stage with Bippo while the tall man turned around to face us. 

"And now, the voluptuous, the exotic, the insightful; Madame Truska!" He said excitedly. I clapped happily as a woman was carried out by a couple of buff men. She looked at me and then at the entire crowd, observing everyone. 

"Do we have someone brave enough to be my assistant?" She asked seductively. All the men immediately raised their hands, and upon wondering what it might be and wanting to have some fun, I raised my hand slightly, shyly by my side. She walked, looking around before her eyes landed on me once more. She raised her arm and pointed at me. 

"You." I blushed and stood up shyly while she grabbed my hand and gently made me sit on the weird chair that she was carried in on. She straddled me which made me blush darker, slowly matching the way my red hair glowed in the light, a blood red colour. She began touching my face gently, and I glanced at Steve in embarrassment, all he did was smirk and shrug as men cat called and whistled. She grabbed my wrists firmly which caused me to wince slightly, she must have seen it as she eased her grip and brought my hands to her jaw and chin. I felt the beginnings of a beard grow quickly causing me to stare in wonder and touch it once more before blushing deeply and lowering my hands quickly. She looked down at me worriedly, fearfully, her eyes darker than they were before. 

"Who are you?" She asked softly causing me to stare up at her in surprise. I schooled my expression quickly and answered with an alias. 

"My name is Silva Smith." I answered just as quietly. She quickly stood up gracefully and bowed towards the crowd. She spun back towards me, held out an old styled barber shop razor and began shaving off her beard quickly and gracefully. I stared once again in silent wonder as the strips of hair fell to the floor by my feet. And then just as quickly as she started, she finished, her face smooth once more, and bowed towards the crowd. She helped me up and I quickly went to sit back down, my cheeks a rosy red. Steve smirked and nudged my arm softly. I pouted at him and focused my attention forwards once more. 

"Ready for more?" The tall man called from somewhere up high. "Larten Crepsley and Madame Octa!" 

A couple seconds later, a tall handsome man appeared on stage in a sudden flicker of red. He looked to be roughly 6 to 6"3, wore red pants tucked into black laced up boots, a red vest, a red tail coat, a back bowtie and a black top hat. I stared in fascination. He even had bright orange hair that had a red tint to it in the lighting. He smiled at everyone, bowing an extravagant bow to the crowd before righting himself. I felt Steve stiffen next to me as I clapped excitedly. 

"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I am so excited to be here in an anonymous small town which used to have character, but is now just a bland suburb filled with chain stores and surrounded by slums." I raised my eyebrows in surprise at how quickly he spoke. "It really is a pleasure to be here. And I am so honoured that blah, blah, blah, and so on and so forth, et cetera, ad nauseam." 

"I'm afraid I have some unfortunate news, however," The crowd remained quiet while he spoke, something in his presence screaming authority. "I had hoped to present my usual act, but my spider, Madame Octa, seems to have escaped from her cage and is currently missing. Use caution when retrieving your belongings from underneath your seats, she is very poisonous." 

"But not to worry. Tonight I will perform for you some startling illusions." I shifted uncomfortably, the thought of a very poisonous spider being loose making me want to bolt as fast as I can. "First, a rabbit from a hat." 

He took off his hat, his bright orange curly hair wildly flowing whichever way it wanted to. As his arm fully extended, the hat lurched before a spider jumped up and onto the rim of said hat. The man gasped in surprise before swallowing in fear to allow himself to speak. 

"This is Madame Octa. Interesting fact: One bite from this spider means certain death. But don't worry. As long as I stay calm, she won't bite." He slowly looked towards his coat, the free hand reaching towards the lapels. "If I could just get my flute, that usually-" 

He was cut off as the spider jumped to where his heart was, his hat quickly following its movements as it moved around his torso. He grabbed the large hand sized spider with his larger hand, and went to throw it on the ground, but it went down, and came right back up just like a yo-yo. He did this a couple times before cutting the webbing with his foot and tried to stomp on the spider. The stomping quickly evolved into a sort of tap dancing, the spider dancing and jumping around and away from his feet while he slowly took out a small flute. As he began to play, the light turned blue, and the spider calmed down. While he continued to play a gentle tune, Madame Octa climbed up his leg, his side, and then across his arm before attaching a string of webbing to the flute and hanging down. Mr. Crepsley began to gently swing the spider back and forth, and just as I was getting into the performance, Steve nudged my side making me breath in harshly, but not loud. 

"Ari, his name's not Larten Crepsley. It's Vur Horsten. He's a vampire." He told my quietly and quickly. "I saw his painting in one of my vampire books. It-it's him. He's got the same scars, the same hair, the same everything." 

"You seriously think he's a vampire?" I asked him quietly, one of my eyebrows raised in disbelief as I looked at him. I heard the crowd gasping, but at this point I was paying more attention to Steve. 

"Yes." He answered. I suddenly felt a weight settle on my leg, just above my knee. I froze and slowly looked down. Madame Octa, in all her beautiful yet deadly colours of red, blue, and purple, looked absolutely adorable. She squeaked towards me and raised one of her legs in a way that made it seem like it was waving. I smiled softly. 

"Hello beautiful..." I whispered to her. I moved one of my hands towards her, palm facing up just in case she wondered if I was a threat and held it in front of her. She climbed onto my hand as everyone else had run screaming, even Steve had jolted back in fear and was staring at me stunned. I was normally terrified of spiders, but this one, this one was different. "You are really pretty..." 

"May I have my spider back, please?" A firm and almost cold voice asked me. I looked up in surprise and fear, almost expecting my father to be talking to me in the daze I was in. I saw Larten Crepsley standing in front of me with a large cage. I blushed when my eyes met his golden-brown ones and gently lowered her into the cage. I whispered a quiet bye to her, and she squeaked back. 

"Now you two, vampires don't exist. But if one did, and he thought someone knew, he might smother them in their sleep." He whispered to us softly in a threatening tone of voice. I swallowed slightly, and suddenly a familiar voice called out saying that the show was over. Looking back towards where Mr. Crepsley was only to see him and Madame Octa gone. Looking back once more, I realized that it was Mr. Kersey that hand entered the theatre with a police officer and a bunch of other people. 

"Let's go." Steve said as we quickly took off, both of us splitting up accidentally.


	4. Tiny? Not quite...

As soon as I took off, I headed back stage and went down one set of stairs, quickly followed by another set leading to the basement. I passed quite a few stage hands and one or two performers before coming up on a door at the bottom of the last set of stairs that had Crepsley and Octa inscribed on a piece of paper. I paused and while berating myself, calling myself insane and an idiot, I walked in cautiously. Once I had the door opened, I looked in only to see a couple chairs, a wardrobe, a coffin, and a table with a cage on it mostly covered by a soft velvety red cloth. I wrinkled my nose at the coffin and ignored it in favour of shutting the door and meeting Octa once again. 

"Hello again Miss Octa." I greeted her with a soft smile. She came to the bars of the cage and seemed to wave with a squeak. I smiled a bit wider, my eyes sparkling slightly with genuine happiness. "You're very beautiful. I admit, I'm usually quite scared of spiders but there's something about you that makes me fascinated. May I hold you?" 

I felt silly for asking a spider if I could hold it, but all the same, I learned that if you show an animal respect you get respect in return. Apparently this spider was no different as she squeaked and almost seemed to bounce excitedly. I grinned childishly and opened her cage, but before I could allow her to crawl onto my hand, voices started to become more clear as they walked closer to the door leading to this room. I threw the cloth over the cage, forgetting to close it as I rushed to the wardrobe, not even realizing she had gotten out and followed me into the wardrobe. I had closed it just in time as two men walked in. 

"Well, I saw the spider bit coming." A tall, lanky, black haired man stated casually. 

"Everybody's a critic." Mr Crepsley replied slightly annoyed. "It's not easy to hold an audience's attention these days. I peeked out of the crack in the door of the wardrobe, watching as the orange haired man put on a comfortable looking house coat before grabbing two glasses filled with red liquid. 

"To us and Charna's guts." They said together with grins, clinked their glasses together and drank from them. 

"Did you see that fingernail moon tonight? The first one in 50 years." Crepsley said excitedly. I bit my lip slightly to prevent myself from giggling at the childish tone his voice took. 

"Yes. I noticed it." The tall man said gravely as he put down his glass. "Look. Vincent's dead. Murdered. Sucked dry by one of them. They're after us, man. They're after us!" 

"They're after us! Those damn Vampaneze! They're gonna pick us off! First Vincent, then you, then me." The lanky man said frantically. Crepsley sat down gracefully but froze before fully relaxing. 

"Why me before you?" He asked curiously, thinly veiled annoyance hiding in the undertones. 

"Well, because I'm the toughest, and they'll save me for last." The other man said cockily. I rolled my eyes. Men. 

"Oh. Of course. I forgot." Crepsley stated dryly. "Well, what about the Vampire Council? They must have something to say about Vincent." 

"Yes. They say good riddance." The other man said coldly. "They're a bunch of wimps now, Larten. They'll do anything to avoid a war with the Vampaneze. There are no real generals left, hombre!" 

"You and I, we're the last of the Mo-Freakins. And to top it off, Tiny's back." I raised my eyebrows. 'Seriously? Someone is actually named Tiny? Sad.' 

"Mr. Tiny? Back from the other side?" Crepsley asked. 

"Yes!" The man said nodding. "Just last week, he was at the council library, messing with the Book of Souls. He's trying to destroy us all, that megalomaniac! That man's a megalomaniac!" 

"And those murderous, scumbag Vampaneze." He said taking a breath from getting upset. "They're up to something too, and it's all connected. It's all connected. I can feel it!" 

"Come with me." He said placing a friendly hand on Crepsley's shoulder. "We can avenge old Vincent. Kill us some Vampaneze!" 

"No." Crepsley quietly replied. "I'm sorry." 

"No? Why?" The other man asked indignantly. 

"I'm done fighting. I left that life for a reason." Crepsley replied while standing up, placing his drink down. "I'm just a vaudevillian. It's a simple life, and I like it." 

The door suddenly opened and Steve walked in, I briefly wondered if he accidentally wondered in here because of the police. 

"I know who you are. I know what you are, Vur Horsten." Steve stated darkly. 'Well, I guess this wasn't an accident.' I thought to myself. Suddenly, the other man in the room went from one place to the other and picked Steve up slightly by his throat, choking him. 

"Who sent you? The Apocalypse Monger? The Blood Barons?" The man asked while Crepsley observed the situation. 

"No – No one. I – No one sent me. I have these vampire books and I saw a painting of him with some girl in, like, 1819. It said that she broke up with him when she found out he was a vampire." Steve rattled off while gasping as the hand almost seemed to grow minuscule tighter. Crepsley began to chuckle in faked amusement. 

"Did you hear that, Gavner? Missy broke up with me because I was a vampire. Funny I always thought it was the only thing she liked about me." He told them with barely concealed humour and hurt. "Let the kid go. Let him go." 

The other man, Gavner, let Steve go and I breathed a small quiet sigh of relief. Crepsley continued to talk to Steve in a soft but threatening voice. 

"Now, are you mentally unfit? Didn't you hear me threaten you at the show?" Steve nodded with a smirk. 

"I did, it was awesome. You see, I want this. I want you to make me into a vampire." He said hopefully yet nervously. "I mean, vampires, they.. They don't take crap from anybody. They live by their own set of rules." 

"It's true. They do have their own rules." Crepsley said calmly. "We wrote some of them." 

"Yes, and one of them is children can't become vampires." Gavner said with a false smile. 

"Look, look. Blood." Steve said while grabbing his hand. I wanted to walk out of the wardrobe and punch him before dragging him away. 'What the fuck are you thinking!?' I pondered. Gavner looked at Steve like he was a class A idiot. Crepsley gasped. 

"Blood! You see, Gavner?" Crepsley gasped out as he slowly walked closer while hunched up. "Blood." 

Just as quickly his body relaxed. "Look. If you become a vampire, you have to leave your friends and your family. It's deeply depressing. Trust me. Now get out of here." 

I looked down sadly, the thought of Steve leaving me causing my emotions to show up through the barrier I formed in my head. I felt something gently rub against my cheek and to my surprise I rubbed my cheek against it back. I still didn't look over to see what it was, most likely it was just one of these coats. A tear fell gently down my cheek on the other side of my face. I looked back up to continue watching. 

"I haven't seen my dad in years. My mom is drunk all the time. The only friend I have, keeps getting hurt because of me. I absolutely hate my life." Steve quietly told them with tears in his eyes. "I never actually said it before, but it's the truth. This... is what I was meant for." 

"What you're meant for?" Crepsley asked in slight surprise before putting down his drink. "Well if that’s the case, let's test your blood." 

"N-no. No!" Gavner tried to tell him sternly. Crepsley walked forward while ignoring Gavner and dabbed his finger against Steve's bite. He licked his finger then immediately spat the blood out. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. 

"Who sent you here? Your blood tastes of evil." He whispered to Steve very quietly. I almost had to strain myself to hear. Gavner began to spit as well as if there was a bad taste in his mouth. "You can never be a vampire." 

"What?" Steve practically spat out. "I-I have what, bad blood? I'm never gonna forget this. One day, I promise you. I will hunt you down-" 

"And what?" Crepsley asked looking at him. His voice was deceptively calm at first before it began to rise in anger as he walked closer to Steve, backing him up. "Kill me? Do you know how easily I could kill you? I could do it tonight. I could knock you out and lay you in front of a bus, and no one would ever know!" 

"Calm down. Save that stuff for the enemy." Gavner interrupted to my relief. "He's just an idiot kid, who should be leaving right now..." He growled out at Steve. "While he still can." 

Steve quickly left after that, Gavner slamming the door shut with his foot. I looked around at the wardrobe trying to see if there was a way for me to leave or hide without being found. I backed up slightly and I felt a part of the wall give way while Gavner and Crepsley continued to talk. I gently pushed the hidden door open and slowly and silently made my way out before closing it behind me. I turned around and saw the tunnel, and upon hearing a worried voice calling for Octa, I walked as quickly and quietly as I could down the rather dark tunnel. I felt something move on my neck which caused me to freeze mid-step. Squeaking came from behind my hair and I sighed with relief. 

"Octa you scared me." I whispered to her. I felt her rub against my neck slightly in a way that made it seem like she was sorry. I began walking again and a moment later I paused once more. "Wait, why are you with me? Shouldn't you be with Mr. Crepsley? If he finds out that you're with me, I am not taking the blame for this." 

I heard her squeak a little bit more and the sound of a door slamming open scared me into bolting for the ladder just up a head. I crawled out after making my way up hurriedly and upon closing the lid to the secret entrance, the limo I saw from the morning pulled up and the door opened showing two men inside which made me nervous. I felt Octa flatten herself against the back of my neck underneath my hair and I looked behind me, fluffing my hair to hide her better before getting in and sitting between them. 

"Thank you, I wasn't too sure if there was someone behind me or not." I said to the fat man next to me. I know that it's rude to refer to someone as fat but seriously, there was next to no room for two let alone three. 

"Oh absolutely, absolutely. Delighted." The fat man replied, he pronounced his words with what almost seemed to be a British accent but it was more foreign than that. The man on my right grunted slightly, and upon looking at him, I realized he was staring at me as if I was a rare meal on display. He looked at me with hunger, and it made me wish I had just let the other man, Crepsley, catch me. "Are you the one known as Steve?" 

"No, I'm the one known as Arianna." I told him emotionlessly. This man, something was wrong with him. It seemed like he was planning something. My instincts told me he was just as dangerous if not more so than the other man next to me. 

"Now, if I may ask," he leaned closer to me which made me lean away and into the man who kept looking at me with hunger. "Arianna, do you believe in the immutability of the human soul?" 

"What?" I asked him in confusion. What the hell was he going on about? The man I was leaning into scoffed. 

"She knows nothing of souls, does she?" He asked from behind his scarf. "Knows only of blood huh? The pulsing, delicious, the ruby red." 

He put some kind of small grinding tool to his teeth which caused me to wince slightly at the sound. I looked straight a head to keep myself from having a panic attack from being surrounded by what my gut was telling me were dangerous men. I hadn't even felt Octa move through this whole time. 

"Are we almost there?" I asked them seriously. 

"What's the rush? After all, didn’t we save you from the scary, scary vampire?" He asked amused. I felt my eyes narrow in anger and fear. 

"Doesn't act like leadership material. Acts more like a bag of blood. Are you? Huh?" The man beside me asked in his foreign accent, his rough voice causing the knot of fear in my heart to tighten. "Bag of blood?" 

"Shows how much you know, Murlaugh." The fat man said to him almost coldly. "I think she reeks of potential." 

At least I could put a name to one of the faces. I just wish I knew the name of the other man. I suddenly felt a pain in my head as a hair was yanked out harshly. I jolted forward in my surprise and felt Octa move slightly to have a better grip. I prayed they didn’t find her, because I had a feeling she would be telling her Master once she got back to him. 

"Sorry." The fat man said uncaringly. I glared at him with a ferocity I didn’t realize I had. He placed the hair into a small box with the paid of tweezers he plucked said hair. "Souvenir." 

I went to leave the car, uncaring as to whether or not I'd live after jumping out of a moving vehicle. I felt Murlaugh place a firm hand on my shoulder and push me back down with what looked like next to no effort. It made me pale further and I couldn’t help but wonder if I was going to get out of this alive. 

"We all have a destiny, Arianna." Fat man told me quietly. "With a few simple tests, we can find out what yours is." I glared straight a head trying not to show them any fear. 

"Wonderful to meet you, Arianna. Oh, it's like looking in a mirror." He nearly growled out as Murlaugh gazed down at me with a grin. The car finally slowed down and stopped, and I very quickly got out of the car. With every step I felt more relief to be away from those men, then I heard a window rolling down. 

"Arianna!" He called out to me. I turned in trepidation. "We'll be in touch." 

I turned and rushed away, but upon glancing back, I didn’t see the car anywhere in sight.


	5. Deal? Or No Deal?

I jolted up from my bed, the room was dark and as I looked around frantically, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at my alarm clock, I saw that it was 7:17 am which meant I needed to get dressed and leave for school. I heard a squeak from my bed which made me freeze. My mind recognized that sound and upon turning to look I saw Madame Octa staring at me, waving one of her legs towards me. I groaned and facepalmed. 

"Sweetheart, your Master is going to kill me." I told her softly. She looked saddened from my statement, and it was easy to assume that she thought I didn’t want her here. I gently picked her up with both of my hands as she was bigger than my one hand, and brought her close to my face. 

"That doesn't mean I don't want you here beautiful. It just means I'm a little scared what he's going to do to me when he finds out that you're with me. I don't want to get you in trouble either though." I sighed and looked at my windowsill, and there I saw the cricket farm I had. I perked up and walked over to it. "I don't know what to feed you, but would crickets be a decent meal for you this morning?" 

She squeaked and wiggled a couple of her arms excitedly and as I opened the container, she jumped in and started feasting. I wrinkled my nose slightly at the way she was hopping around and eating the crickets. 

"I'm going to get dressed, I'll be a few moments alright lovely?" She waved a leg at me and I took that as my cue to go get dressed. I looked outside and saw that it was cloudy outside which meant I wouldn't have to cover up as much. I grinned and grabbed a pair of tights that covered my feet, a pair of heeled black boots (only raised me up by an inch since I couldn't walk in anything larger), and grabbed an off the shoulders red and dark blue dress that went down to about mid thigh. I grabbed my sweater and a scarf, while wrapping said scarf around my neck a couple times and made sure it was loose enough for Octa to breathe and move in if needed, I walked over to the cricket tank. 

"All finished eating beautiful?" I asked her with a soft smile. She squeaked in an affirmative and I picked her up gently before placing her onto the scarf. "Now, while we're at my school, you're gunna have to hide, okay? I'll kill a few crickets and bring them with me so I can feed you when you get hungry in the middle of the day. Please, please don't leave my scarf unless I am the one reaching for you." 

I felt her gently brush against my neck and an answering squeak. I smiled and killed several crickets before packing them in a bag and placing that bag within my messenger bag. 

"There's a loud bell in school that always tells us kids where or when we need to be in class and It’s a shrill bell, I'm sorry if it scares you, just please hide when it does scare you." I whispered to her as I walked to school at a quick pace. I quietly enjoyed the breeze on my skin and the closer I got to school, I got more and more nervous. I placed my sweater on to hide the bruises that were still present on my arms, and walked into the school grounds, through the doors and straight to my locker. As I walked in, it seemed a bit later than normal as nobody was in the halls, so I made my way towards history as quick as I could. 

History was as boring as watching paint dry. More so actually. I didn’t pay attention and when I finally reached my third period, about most of the way through the art class, I felt a slight brush against my neck. I raised my hand and asked to excuse myself, and upon being granted permission, I left and headed to my locker. I reached into the back of the shelf inside it and pulled out the cricket bag to open it then placed it back on the shelf. I reached into the scarf and with a soft hum of encouragement, got Octa to climb on to my hand carefully (small hands), and placed her on top of my sweater inside the locker next to the crickets. I smiled softly as I watched her eat, I was so distracted I didn’t even hear my best friend come up next to me. 

"Why are you acting so weird?" Steve asked me worriedly. I jolted and softly closed my locker door. 

"I'm not acting weird." I replied unconvincingly. 

"You were just gazing into your locker with a smile on your face, so unless you suddenly got a boyfriend or girlfriend, its for a different reason." 

"Well that's rude." I told him with a small pout. Steve rolled his eyes and gently moved me over. I tried to fight him but I was still hurting from the beating I had gotten a few days ago. 

"Please don't Steve, don't, you'll scare her!" I said to him worriedly. He shushed me and upon looking into my locker, saw Madame Octa staring at him, almost like she didn't like him. I looked at her with tears in my eyes and mouthed the word sorry to her. She squeaked softly and lowered herself into my sweater more. Steve froze and then turned towards me almost angrily. 

"Holy shit! That's-! That's the-the-!" He stuttered over his words. I winced and backed away slightly at his angered expression on instinct. 

"Yeah, I went down the stairs when they were getting busted and I swear I didn’t mean to take her." I edged around the truth of her following me. Steve was already mad, he didn't need to get any more upset. 

"You stole from a vampire?! Do you realize he is going to kill you?!" Steve ranted at me. I winced and a couple of tears rolled down my cheeks. He's never been this angry with me. 

"I don’t know what else to do all right? Just leave her alone." I muttered to him in a forced calm voice. 

"Wait, when did you go to Vur Horsten's room? What did you see?" I swallowed back the urge to run screaming as his eyes darkened even more, the hot anger being replaced by a cold sharp indifference. 

"I-I saw everything okay. I get your reasons why you'd want to be with vampires, but seriously? You'd leave all your friends that willingly? You'd leave me that willingly?" I asked him emotionally as tears still rolled down my face. I had no urge to wipe them away. He looked away and sighed. 

"You keep getting hurt because of me. And side from you, I have nothing and nobody I'd want to stay for. And I'd only leave you to stop you from getting hurt." I snorted at his words in disbelief. 

"You're an idiot. He'd still hurt me even if you weren't around. Nothing has ever stopped him, and nothing ever will." I stated harshly and distressed to him. He sighed again before looking at me apologetically. 

"I'm sorry okay? Can I see the spider now?" He said. I sighed heavily through my nose and opened it gently. Reaching in, I held my hand out and coaxed her to come and say hi. 

"Come here beautiful. I'd like you to meet someone." She slowly crawled onto my hand, her eyes seemed to almost glare at Steve which made me nervous. As he gazed down at her, his eyes seemed to almost glare. 

"This thing's even more hideous close up." I pulled her close to me instantly and glared heatedly at him. 

"Don't say that about her, you asshole." I growled at him. The bell suddenly rang loud and shrill. Octa squeaked in fear and jumped down onto the ground and tried to get away as her instincts told her to do. 

"No! Octa!" I called for her as she scurried away as fast as possible. People kept blocking her way to leave, as I tried to find her upon being surrounded by a massive number of students, I started to hear screaming, quickly followed by a lot more terrified screaming. I looked over and saw that Octa was on the ceiling with Steve underneath her holding a broom. 

"Steve! NO!" I yelled out to him as I pushed my way through the crowd of students and teachers. I wasn't there quickly enough as he threw the broom up and all I could do was watch as she fell, landing on her back harshly. I finally managed to make my way through the last wave of students and grabbed the broom with all my strength to stop him from hitting the spider. 

"What's the matter with you?! Whose side are you on?!" He asked me angrily. 

"Hers!" I replied heatedly. I heard squeaking, and upon looking over, I saw she was stuck in the windowsill. I went to move forward and let her go when Steve suddenly pushed me against the lockers, which aggravated the bruises on my back and made me collapse onto the ground. I had troubles breathing as I watched him slam the window close, but he didn’t kill her, as she seemed to be gone. I sighed in relief until I noticed a large bump moving underneath Steve's shirt. I watched as he freaked out and kept screaming for someone to get her off of him, when I saw her climb onto his head, she looked at me and seemed to almost quiver in what looked to be anger. Whether at me and how I wasn't able to help, or because I was curled on the floor out of breath and in pain from Steve's push, I wasn't too sure. She crawled to the side of his face and bit down, even I could hear a loud squish sound, almost as if something was punctured from where I had collapsed. 

I heard Steve groan and collapse unconscious, Madame Octa looked at me and waved one of her legs at me before skittering through an open classroom door. Immediately, teachers were gathered around Steve and trying to wake him up, but nothing seemed to work. Everything was such a blur after that, the ambulance took him there with me next to him, the nurses and doctors tried to figure out what kind of spider it was based on my description, but nobody could figure it out. As 8pm rolled around, I was told I needed to go home as visiting hours were over. I nodded and left, one last glance at Steve made me determined to do what I felt I needed to do. 

So, I left and made my way towards the theatre nearby in hopes that the supposed vampire, Mr. Crepsley was still around. About 30 minutes or so later of jogging, I made it to the empty theatre. Nervously, I moved as silently as I could through the doorway making my way to the stage area. I noticed a stage light was still on and silently pondered as to whether or not I was expected. 

"What have you come to steal from me this time." A voice behind me asked threateningly. I gave out a screech and spun around to see Mr. Crepsley standing within a couple feet behind me. I backed up immediately and bowed my head slightly, my breaths coming in quick, short bursts as I tried to calm my panic attack down. "Thief!" 

"N-nothing! I-I swear!" I managed to gasp out. I held my breath and counted to 10 slowly before letting out the breath I was holding in even slower, I could feel the vampire’s gaze on me, observing. "L-look, my friend Steve pissed off Octa and as much as I know he deserves the bite at least, I don't want him to die. I-I was wondering if you had an antidote." 

"I do." He said softly with a smirk. I felt a slight twinge in my lower abdomen and I silently wondered what the hell that feeling was. "But I only have a couple doses left. Why should I waste any on some little psychopath?" 

"Do not call him a psychopath. He's quick tempered, doesn't think most of the time, and he can definitely be an asshole, but he deserves to live just like any other person. He hasn't done anything truly wrong!" I argued with him. I had to wonder about my mental stability considering I was fighting with an actual vampire. He walked closer to me, slowly, calculatingly, and my stomach turned into knots. I walked backwards, taking a single step back each time he moved forward. 

"He threatened to kill me. He demanded I turn him into a vampire. He pushed you around earlier today and even pushed you against some lockers. How is he not a psychopath?" He retorted. I swallowed heavily, the feeling of fear was starting to grow once more. 

"Like I said, he can be an asshole, and he never hurt me. I would've been fine if I was in a better state of health." Mr. Crepsley hummed slightly and stopped his stalking. "On another note, I never meant to take Miss Octa, that was honestly an accident. I do apologize for making you worried about her, and I really hope she's okay from the fall that she took today." 

I knew I was rambling. I mean seriously, who wouldn't ramble? I felt like a lamb waiting to be feasted upon with how his golden brown eyes were watching me. 

"So then you've learned a valuable moral lesson." He stated more than asked. I nodded quickly and backed up once again as he moved forward. "And you'll never do anything wrong again as long as you live." 

"Well I can do my best but there's no guarantee." I whispered my answer, I mean honestly, no one can make a promise like that. He seemed to grin in a predatory way, and just as my back hit the stage, he was less than a foot away from touching me. 

"Smart answer girl." He replied. I swallowed once again, his eyes honed in on the motion of my throat, and I was once again reminded that he is a vampire. Suddenly, he was gone. I blinked a couple of times and breathed a sigh of slight relief. 

"What did Mr. Tiny want?" I squeaked and spun around while taking a few quick steps back. His voice was cold and angry, and I felt like if I didn't divulge the information he wanted I could be killed. But who the hell was Mr. Tiny? 

"Who's Mr. Tiny?" I asked shakily. 

"The fat man in the limousine." I smiled slightly upon realizing that a lot of people seemed to refer him as the fat man. 

"Fancy that that's the way I refer to him as well. He was muttering something about souls, and um... destiny I believe." I told him honestly. "And he knew where I lived." 

"Looks like you're in deep shit my larcenous friend." He spoke from right behind me once more. I gasped and spun around, backing right against the stage once again. He almost seemed to smirk at my reactions every time. "Mr. Tiny doesn’t just take a random interest in people." 

"And the people he does take an interest in wind up dead or worse." He turned away with a curious look on his face as he lightly bit his finger. 

"What's worse than dead?" I asked him softly. He turned around and faced me quickly, his expression dark. 

"Oh, lots of things." He smirked slyly towards me as he shrugged his shoulders. "All right. I'll do it. I'll make you a bargain. You'll become my assistant. I'll turn you into a half vampire, you'll be able to go out in the daylight. Very useful for me." 

"You'll do chores for me and guard my coffin on the road." He seemed to be taking delight in what I could only assume was a horrified expression on my face. "And in return, I'll try and keep Mr. Tiny away from you. Oh, and I'll save your stupid friend Steve, despite the fact he threatened to kill me." 

I glared at the floor in thought, wondering if there was any way to get around this deal. I sighed once I realized that no, there wasn’t. "You'll save him?" 

"Why not?" He stated cheekily with a smirk. I looked away and an issue brought up in my mind. 

"I refuse to kill people, so if I become a half vampire, I will fight you tooth and nail not to kill anyone that isn't privy to a life or death situation." He smirked and walked towards me, I only wished I was able to move right then as he came to a stop in front of me. I could practically feel his presence trying to swallow me whole, to subdue me. I stayed standing, albeit shakily, and looked up at him. The top of my head only just reached his shoulder in my boots. 

"Vampires don't kill the people they feed on. Vampaneze do. Big source of controversy. War for about 80 years, then a truce." He placed his hands on the stage right behind me as he leaned in closer. "Getting ugly again apparently. But time's wasting! Wanna become a vampire?" 

I nearly became a pile of Jell-O at his seductively whispered questioned. Damn that man and damn myself for being a god damn female. 

"It's a lonely life, but there's lots of it." He walked away again when it seemed like I wasn't going to answer. 

"I'll do it." I said quietly. He turned and looked at me with a cocky grin. "To save my friend Steve, no other reason. Understood?" 

He nodded and disappeared from my view once more. This guy should've done his own magic show just with the abilities he has that I've seen this far. 

"Here it is." He said holding up the antidote within a glass vial. I sighed with relief and with a slight running start climbed my way up onto the stage. He still stood there smirking as I finally stood in front of him. "First thing's first. Let's test your blood."


	6. Cold

I felt my anxiety sky rocket and a crushing feeling in my chest at his words. 'Let's test your blood.' The words almost seemed to echo in my head causing me to bring my hands up to my neck and cover the artery there. I watched as Crepsley rolled his eyes exasperatedly. 

"What are you doing? I'm not going to bite you in the jugular. I could kill you that way, now show me your hands." He told me firmly while walking towards me once again. I breathed a little heavier the closer he got and when he finally came to a stop less than a couple of feet from me, he stood there waiting for me to lower my hands. As seconds passed, I could see him quickly becoming more annoyed at my lack of movement. I finally lowered my hands, my pale skin showing as I wasn't wearing my usual gloves to hide from the sun, brought my hands before me and held them out for him, and faster than I could see, his right hand almost seemed to flicker in its speed that he moved and a stabbing sensation made me recoil my hand very quickly at the pain. 

"Ow! Fuck!" I swore as I cradled my hand towards my chest. I glared at him with a small pout on my lips, he just brought his finger to his own lips, his tongue darting out and licking the small drop of blood he had swiped from my hand. I watched him almost fascinated, as his lips curled into a smirk at what I could only assume to be the taste of my blood. He hummed appreciatively afterwards and looked at me with a hunger filled smirk. I felt my body shiver in what I assumed to be fear. 

"You have wonderful blood, this will work." He told me softly. "All right, hold up your hands. We're going to exchange blood." 

"That's kinda creepy." I replied to him as I held up my hands like he did. His face was a mask of concentration as he looked at my hands and eyed them critically. 

"I know, but that's how it's done." As soon as he finished speaking, his hands moved wickedly fast and his fingernails (they should be called claws honestly) stabbed into the tips of my own fingertips. I gasped and flinched backwards automatically causing him to eye me curiously as he punctured his own fingertips. I grimaced slightly at the throbbing in my fingers as I continued to hold my hands up for him. He calmly placed his cut fingertips to mine and pressed them together gently. He levelled a calm look at me as the seconds passed. 

"Don't let go for any reason, this will hurt when it reaches your heart." My eyes widened in surprise at his warning, and seconds later, I felt a stabbing and crushing sensation in my chest where my heart is, causing me to scrunch my eyes closed and bite down hard on my bottom lip causing it to bleed once more, but thankfully that pain took a little bit of it away from my heart as it thumped harshly. Less than a moment later, Crepsley removed his hands and I collapsed with a whimper onto the floor, curled up into a ball. The fall hurt as well, unfortunately, as it aggravated my bruises and other injuries. I heard a soft swish of cloth from beside me and then a hand was placed on my back gently. I froze for a moment as a flash of memory of a man with dark brown eyes raced to the front of my mind. Despite the throbbing of my own injuries, I pushed myself up and away from him hurriedly, my body almost shivering from feeling a bone chilling coldness entering my skin. 

"Lick your fingers." He told me calmly while standing back up and grabbing his coat, a long red trench coat. I wrinkled my nose in slight disgust but did as I was told and licked the cuts on my fingers. As I pulled away after licking them, I watched in awe as the wound very quickly closed up and healed, leaving only small scars as a hint to being turned into a half vampire. I looked up at him in shock. 

"So do I have, like, super spit now?" I asked him as I stood up. He rolled his eyes and answered sarcastically. 

"Yes, you have super spit." He adjusted the collar on his coat and gazed down at me with a mocking smirk. I rolled my eyes. 

"Okay, cheeky, what about healing. Does my body heal really fast now or just at its regular rate?" I asked casually while continuing to inspect my fingertips. He was quiet for a moment as he looked at me thoughtfully. 

"In about a week or so your healing factors in your body will be accelerated and any injuries you currently have will be completely healed. Any injuries that you might get after that will be healed within a few hours at the most." I hummed thoughtfully and nodded my head to show I understood. "Anything else that you'll get will take a little bit longer after that." 

"The rest? Would I be able to turn into a bat or something?" I asked curiously. 

"No. That's bullshit." He said firmly. I chuckled a little and lowered my hands while raising my eyes to look at him with a grin. 

"I knew it." He rolled his eyes and turned around. 

"Hop on my back, we're going to flit." My eyes widened and I stared at his back in surprise. 

"What?" 

"Just shut up and hop on my back." I gulped slightly, and with another small running start I jumped up and wrapped my legs around his hips, my arms around his shoulders with my nails digging into his jacket. He grabbed my thighs gently yet firmly, hoisted me up a little higher, and without any other warning, took off. I felt my curly hair fly behind me, the air pressing against my body and putting pressure on it causing me to tighten my grip with my hands and legs. I couldn't breathe, as every time I tried to breath out air was forced back in. In what felt like seconds of watching everything be a blur around me, we finally stopped and the second he let go, I fell to the ground and coughed to make my lungs work once again. 

"You did hold your breath right?" I coughed some more and stared at him with my watery green-blue eyes. "Did I not tell you to hold your breath?" 

I shook my head. 

"Oh. Sorry." He said in a light voice. I gave him the finger as he walked away and it took me a couple more moments to catch my breath and breathe properly. I finally got to my feet, a bit dizzily, and made my way back to him. His shoes were off and placed to the side along with his socks, and I stared at him with a slightly weirded out expression. He pointed towards his back once more, and with another jump, I was riding piggyback again. My curly red hair kept falling into my face despite me tucking it behind my ears, and unfortunately it seemed to keep tickling Mr. Crepsley's neck as well when it became untucked. He headed towards the brick wall of the hospital and began climbing using his wicked sharp nails. 

"Oh man.." I whispered as I saw us heading further from the ground rather quickly, and up towards Steve's hospital bedroom window. 

"Hold on." He grunted as he continued climbing, I held onto him tighter, feeling my muscles shake from being so tensed for so long, and thankfully we made it to the window. As he pushed me through the window first, I fell to the ground inside the room and was just about ready to kiss the ground and promise to never leave it ever again. Crepsley crawled in through the window surprisingly graceful and walked over to Steve's bedside and stared for a moment with a small smirk. I pushed myself up and stood beside him. 

"She really didn't like him." I winced at his voice. 

"No, she didn't and I don't blame her at all." I responded quietly. He glanced at me in slight surprise and refocused back to the task at hand. He grabbed Steve's arm, looked for a vein and with the sharpness of one of his nails, stabbed into the vein and held the blood in with a finger. Crepsley then tilted the vial of the antidote into his mouth, not swallowing, and placed his lips where he had made the small cut on Steve's arm. I watched in anticipation and waited for any sign of him getting better. Finally, Crepsley stood back up, dabbed a bit of his saliva on his finger and wiped it onto the cut, sealing it and causing it to heal and show no other injuries. A couple moments later, I saw Steve move and seem to breathe easier which caused me to breathe a sigh of relief. 

"Ready to go?" Mr. Crepsley asked me softly. I sighed and nodded, making myway over to him and hopped back on his back for the climb down after he had climbed out of the window. My god, I really hate heights. As we were climbing down, I figured I had better ask my question. 

"Does this mean I need to die or can I just leave?" He was quiet for a moment as we continued to climb down. 

"You will have to die, you don’t want anyone looking for you." I sighed against his neck and felt him shudder and tense slightly. With a quietly muttered apology, I continued to rest my head on his shoulder, fatigue very quickly swallowing my body causing my eyes to close and for my body to relax. 

"Don't fall asleep, I can't catch you while attached to the wall." Mr. Crepsley warned. I groaned slightly and made myself count bricks as a way to make myself stay awake while holding onto his body a bit tighter. We finally made it to the ground a few minutes later, thankfully the brick counting kept me awake, and I waited as he put his shoes and socks back on so we could leave. I looked up at the sky and quietly admired it, wondering to myself if Steve would ever forgive me for what I had done and what I was going to have to do. I thought of my sisters and worried that they might not understand what was happening, that they might not recover from my soon to be planned death. I felt a hand placed on my shoulder right on top of a bruise causing my body to jerk away with a small hiss. Turning around, I swear I could see the worry in his eyes and the suspicion growing in them as well. 

"Ready to go?" I asked after clearing my throat. He nodded once and turned once again to offer his back to me. I hopped up and once he had a good grip on my legs, began to flit. Barely a moment passed before we had stopped again, only this time it was my house we had stopped in front of. I slid off of his back and headed straight for the fenced vine wall that led up to the roof and began climbing, mentally glad that I wore tights underneath my dress as I would've been flashing him otherwise. Once I reached the roof's overhang leading to my bedroom, I silently waked over to the window and cautiously looked inside, observing and making sure that no one was in there, more specifically, to make sure my father wasn’t waiting for me in there. I couldn’t see anyone, nor did I hear anyone aside from the muffled snores coming from my fathers' bedroom, upon deeming it safe enough I decided to gently open the window and crawl through. Mr. Crepsley followed right behind me and as soon as he entered, gravitated towards the books I had on my bookshelf. 

"Nice room." He spoke quietly, opening up a book called Morpheus Road and skimming through it. "Some excellent reading material you have here. Thought all of this was on the internet now?" 

"I prefer books instead of a screen. It's more enjoyable and easier to hide from the world that way." I responded just as quiet. He hummed quietly in agreement and placed the book back in its place on the shelf. I gazed down at the ground before sighing and looking at him. "May I at least say good bye to my sisters?" 

"Just your sisters?" He questioned. I paused for a second before shaking my head. 

"My step-mother too if that's alright." I watched him debate the decision in his mind, his golden-brown eyes almost seemed to glow in my darkened room as he observed me. Finally, he nodded slightly and made himself comfortable on my bed. I smiled a small thankful smile, took off my shoes and began silently walking down the hall towards the twin's room. I opened the door very quietly and moved over to the bed in the corner, ignoring the one by the door that I knew would be empty. I sat down on the purple blanket and observed them quietly as the one with her back to the wall, Amanda, snuggled her sister, Aisha, even closer which made tears show up from my eyes, knowing I'd never be able to see them again after this, or to help them with their homework, watch as they grew older and find love and happiness. I could only hope that my death wouldn't hurt them to terribly. 

"Grow up and follow your dreams, and make sure you find your happiness." With a small sniffle, I leaned forward and pressed a kiss to their foreheads gently. Two years I've known them, and despite that, I knew I'd miss them and Steve the most. I went downstairs and entered the dimly lit kitchen and found my dad's wife sitting there with her head on her arms. 

"Jocelyn?" I whispered quietly. She didn't even stir, more than likely tired from working and taking care of the twins. They could be a handful most of the time. Mischievous little brats was a way I described them fondly. I went to the living room and grabbed a blanket before walking back and placing it on her so she wouldn't get cold or get sick again. She got ill easily when she was cold. "You never tried to replace my mom, and for that I can't thank you enough. You always took care of me whenever you could and I want you to know you were the best mother I could have ever asked for aside from my own. I love you, and give the twins my love." 

I walked away and back up the stairs, ignored the furthest door on my right, moved to the left and re-entered my own bedroom before shutting the door with a soft click. I leaned there for a few seconds before the tears that kept building up finally spilled over causing me to bow my head to make a curtain of hair, hiding my face as I sobbed quietly. 

"Don't-don’t...don't... don't do that. Don't cry." Mr Crepsley stuttered as he walked over with a tissue. I lifted my head up and glared at him, his face was twisted into an awkward expression, as if he never, or didn’t remember, how to comfort anyone as he held out the tissue towards me. I grabbed the tissue gently and wiped at my eyes and face before tossing the tissue out. 

"Honestly, stop." He muttered awkwardly. "Stop." 

"Shut up." I demanded to him quietly. He rolled his eyes and sighed while looking away for a moment before looking back at me. 

"Shall we?" He bowed slightly while pointing towards the still open window. I nodded and made my way out to sit on the rooftop, Mr. Crepsley sat next to me quietly and we gazed up at the moon together. 

"How old were you when you became a vampire?" I asked softly. 

"Twenty. It was 1803, the third of May. I'd just been left by my fiancée, Hesther Collins." He responded softly, a sad look in his eyes upon remembering her. "I thought she was the most beautiful girl in Baltimore. I saw her again 60 years later. She was an old crone. But my heart still beat like a jackrabbit." 

I smiled softly and looked at him. "I'm sure she was and still is in your heart the most beautiful girl in Baltimore." 

"How old are you? I don't think I ever asked." Mr. Crepsley said to me with a small thankful smile to my words. 

"I've been 18 since April." I responded. He nodded and almost seemed to relax from my admission. I smirked at realizing what he was worried about. "I'm technically an adult if you go by Canadian standards so you aren't blooding a child." 

I heard and felt him chuckle against my side, and I couldn’t help but join him in our amusement. A few minutes later we finally calmed down and with a sigh I looked back at him. 

"I'm ready now." I said softly. He nodded once and reached into his black vest to pull out a small vial. He handed it to me and watched me carefully as I uncorked it and took all the liquid at once, my face cringing from the bitter taste. He chuckled softly as I licked my lips and shuddered. 

"So, I won't die from whatever it is you're going to do right? You did say my bodily healing won't kick in until about the end of this week." I asked him worriedly as my limbs began to feel weird. He grinned slightly at my worried expression. 

"No you won't die, I was also lying a bit about that. Your healing is accelerated now but it won't be completely up to normal vampire standards until the week has passed. So it's slow, but faster than humans." I sighed with relief and I smacked his leg lightly with a quiet laugh. 

"Nice job scaring me you jerk." He joined me once again in laughing as we continued to relax. A few minutes longer, I turned to look at him with a weirded out expression. 

"Am I supposed to feel numb everywhere? And is my chest supposed to hurt too?" I asked him. He nodded and continued to look at the sky. 

"Yes, that means it's working." He answered softly before raising his hand towards the sky and pointed to the left of me. "Hey is that the Little Dipper or the big one? I can never remember." 

I went to look and as soon as I turned away from him, I felt his hands grab my face and twist harshly. There was a brief moment of pain as I felt my neck snap from the force of the twist causing my body to fall limply against him. 

"Sorry about that. I had to do that or they would never believe you were dead." I wanted to yell at him and smack him, but any and all movement was constricted as my body went stiff from being 'dead'. 

"Don't worry, there's no damage to your spinal cord. And I'll sneak into the funeral home to fix your broken neck. Oh, and sorry about this next part. Really, I am sorry about this." I then felt his hands manoeuvre me into his lap before rolling me down the slanted rooftop, and I wanted to yell and scream as I fell down and hit the bushes, then the hard ground greeted my cold and unresponsive body with a loud thud. As I laid there with my neck at an uncomfortable angle, all I could think to myself is that this will not be a comfortable experience.


	7. Mental Presence?

After falling off the roof (okay, that bastard pushed me off), everything kind of faded out. Like going to sleep in a way. It was relaxing, weird, and quite frankly frustrating. I didn't get a choice in when I fell asleep or when I woke up. At one point I woke up to some dude saying that my death was a tragedy, that children shouldn't be dying. A more memorable moment that I came to, I think it was in the funeral home, the night before my funeral service. 

"I'm here." Was my only hint as to who was now with me. I tried to open my eyes, to move something of my body but it was paralysed. I tried harder as footsteps moved closer and closer, a swish of cloth and then I stilled (more mentally than anything else, I felt so disoriented) and a warm hand placed itself on my forehead. "I'm going to fix your neck, and it should help speed up the process of the poison working through your body. You'll be able to move around fully in about 16-24 hours." 

A snap made me mentally groan as feeling finally reconnected itself in my body, the harsh numbness no longer plaguing me in my waking moments or restless dreams. His hands began to move away and I momentarily panicked as I realized I would be more conscious for the next 24 hours or so. Mentally I reached out, imagining myself grabbing onto him, and I swear I could feel his presence latch to mine in return, as if comforting me. 

'Don't leave me! I don't want to be alone here!' I mentally pleaded, hoping that he would stay as his footsteps stilled. I held on tighter, and a heavy sigh reached my ears before soft, nearly silent footsteps made their way back over. If I could've held my breath (not like I really have much of a breathing rate at this moment) I would've. The steps didn't move away and I mentally relaxed on the hold of what I assumed to be a figment of my imagination of a presence in my mind. 

"All right, I won't leave just yet." Mr. Crepsley assured me. I could finally place the smooth and deep voice and the footsteps. 

'Thank you...' I thought quietly, knowing he couldn't hear me but wishing he could. A hum of understanding echoed from his body standing by my coffin. I could feel my consciousness drifting off again as the time wore on, and I was barely able to tighten my imaginary grip on that presence with my mind as I slowly fell asleep. He didn't have to say anything, I couldn't reply back anyways even if I wanted to, and as I drifted off into a more restful sleep, I heard a strained chuckle as he walked away. The presence in my mind started to fade, but I imagined griping it for all I was worth and refused to allow it to fade from my mind completely. Footsteps paused before a more annoyed sigh made me mentally smirk and then the darkness I was fighting off finally took over the rest of my mind and I knew no more. 

Page Break

 

\---Line Break--- 

This is painful. Why is it so dark...? 

Laughter. 

Mom? Steve? ...hello? Someone?! 

No response, I couldn't hear anything. The darkness felt consuming, pressing, and it grew. I could feel something inside me had changed, something that had been blocked off, as if it was dangerous, threatening. 

Help me! Someone! Please! I pleaded, attempting to speak. I felt my lips stay sealed, my eyes still closed unwillingly from the elixir that Crepsley had given me. 

Shuffling, maniacal laughing, a clawed hand caressed my face. 

DON'T TOUCH ME! I cried out from the clawed hand. It felt wrong, it felt like it was mocking. Why was it so dark? Why couldn't I feel that presence in my mind anymore? Why did this feel familiar and yet so different? 

Where the hell am I? Another clawed hand caressed my face once more, but then I felt its hand trail down to my lower abdomen, a freezing trail left in its wake, if I could breathe I would no longer be able to. Panic descended down onto my mind, causing it to glaze over as I began screaming and crying, begging for the phantoms hands to leave my body, to stop hurting, to just leave. 

SOMEBODY! HELP ME! 

Everything faded as my mind shut down, refusing to acknowledge the demons any longer. 

\---line break--- 

I have no idea how long it was before my mind hesitantly began coming to. The soft sounds of crying echoed in my ears along with sorrow filled parting words, the sound of something light but rough scraped above me, and despite how hard I tried, I couldn't open my eyes. I couldn't feel the phantoms hands anymore, nor the oppressive and threatening darkness, but that didn't stop me from wanting to get out of here. I needed to leave, I needed to move. 

Move, damn it! I yelled angrily in my mind. 

A finger twitched. I mentally cheered and felt a tear trail from my eye as I finally started to get feeling back in my body. As the odd scraping noise faded into a dull thumping, I moved my finger slightly once more, over and over again until I was able to move it normally and wiggle my fingers as well. Then came the toes, rotating my ankles, tensing and relaxing my muscles in my legs, shifting my hips from side to side (popping the joints in my lower back and giving some much need relief), arms were finally able to move, and finally, last but not least, my head. I could open my eyes, breathe, open my mouth and talk (slur a little bit), but then I realized I could only move a little bit. I couldn't sit up, I couldn't move from the position my body was stuck in. 

I panicked. 

I raged. 

I swear, when I get out of here, I am going to hurt him! I vowed darkly as I yelled, screamed, begged and cried for someone to help me, to get me out of this deathly contraption. I clawed at the soft boundary of cloth, my nails (claws) slicing and peeling the wood. I barely felt my fingertips start bleeding, I hardly felt the pain in my throat as I screamed. 

I was stuck. For better or for worse until either I grew back a couple of my fingernails or was rescued. So, I laid there, and just cried. 

What else was I supposed to do? 

\-------------- 

It was, well I don't actually know how long it was since I gave up and tried to battle those demons, the ones with phantom clawed hands. My mind was surprisingly quiet, allowing the darkness to wash over me, like a blanket. I felt like I was drowning, trying to desperately claw my way to the surface. No sound or movement disturbed the struggle, until I suddenly felt that presence in my mind once more. I could feel its surprise, then its horror, a hand suddenly grasped my own and pulled me up with an insurmountable amount of strength. Clearly, I was imagining things but I was happy to be out of that silky, inky blackness all the same. My physical body took in a large gulp of air, eyes flashed open and sound flooded my ears as the rapid sound of scraping penetrated the darkness surrounding me in my coffin. I mentally clung to the presence curled around mine protectively, and despite knowing it was just my imagination, I felt safe. The scraping got closer and closer before it suddenly hit the wooden lid with a loud ‘thunk’. I felt my breath hitch in fear, soft scraping sounded above me, then suddenly light flooded my vision. I hissed as it burned my eyes, completely used to the dark in the small enclosed space. 

"Wakey, wakey!" A familiar voice called out to me in a slight rasp. I grunted and slowly turned my head back to the voice and blearily looked up at the person. Dark orange curls and golden-brown eyes greeted my vision, and upon seeing the hand being held out to me, grabbed it and allowed myself to be pulled up. My back popped back into place, and after he closed the casket and turned to face me, I tackled him into a hug, ignoring the fact he was pretty covered in dirt and the fact that I was also angry at him. His body tensed for a few seconds before hesitatingly returning the hug awkwardly, a hand patted my shoulder as a sign to let go. I pulled away and attempted to subtly rub my tears away, and thankfully they stopped quickly when I remembered how he had snapped my neck and basically thrown me off my own roof. 

"You're such a bastard!" The 180 in my mood confused him for a split second before his mind caught up as I started to angrily yell at him. "You snapped my bloody neck! You threw me, OFF MY ROOF! I COULD'VE JUST LEFT! I DIDN’T HAVE TO DIE LIKE THAT!" 

"You needed to die so nobody would go looking for you!" He retorted, his voice echoing a power that nearly made me shut up and back down. Nearly. 

"Then we could've gone a different route! That was torture! I don't care about the physical pain, but just having my mind as a playground, not being able to move, that's just fucking rude!" I snapped at him. 

"You're a fucking di-" I was abruptly cut off by being shoved roughly into the dirt walls in the roughly six-foot hole. He had a severely angered expression on his face, his eyes damn near glowing with pent up frustration and rage, one of his hands was wrapped around the back of my neck (nearly covering all of it anyway), his upper body pressed mine back against the dirt wall, and my wrists were held tightly between our bodies by his other hand. In an instinctual reaction, I attempted to knee him in the groin, only for one of his legs to block it and then situated itself between mine, raising me up a few inches as I practically straddled his one leg. 

I refused to acknowledge the harsher twinge in my lower abdomen. Fuck no. 

"I may have given you unlife, I may have saved you from Tiny for now, but if you continue to yell at me and be ungrateful for the fact that I am sticking my damn neck out for you, I will put," He told me with a frozen rage, chills ran up and down my back, freezing my blood. He moved closer to my face, and if I could've flinched or moved back, then I would have. As it was, I was frozen in fear. I think. 

"You-" He moved closer, his voice lowered. My eyes stared up at him with enraptured horror. 

"Back-" Closer, my breathing hitched, his voice nearly purring. 

"Inside-" Closer again, the smell of dirt, leather, sweat, and mint flooded my nose, his voice a seductive and almost soothing (if I wasn't held like this at least) growl. His own eyes seemed to glint with hunger, although to drink my blood was up for questioning, his pupils dilated, and I swear I stopped breathing as I felt a soft puff of air against my lips. 

"The coffin." He growled out darkly, his lips moving and barely whispering against my own. I refused to breathe. I refused to move. Honestly, I wasn't even sure I had a thought process. The threat terrified me, make no doubts about that. I did not want to go back in there. However, I was also slightly distracted by the odd feelings this position, his actions, and the way his presence dominated mine. It was terrifying. Fear inducing. Horrifying. And yet, something within me ached for him to press his lips against mine. 

"Understand?" His lips whispered by my ear, a quiver went through my body unwelcomed with the slight electrical shock as well. Although it felt pleasing, I did not want it. I swallowed and tried to speak, my breath hitching more as he whispered a quiet, "Well?" 

"Y-yes s-sir." I stuttered out, mind blank, and my body tensed tighter than an elastic band. Suddenly, his body was away from me, my body fell and slumped on the ground as he climbed up out of the grave easily. I was still trying to get my breathing to work, never mind my mind as I slowly pushed myself up to stand. He turned to look at me coldly, a hand reached down to help me out, and I nervously grabbed it with both hands as I was easily lifted out of the dirt hole and stood next to him. Swallowing, I knew I had to say something or else it would be extremely uncomfortable for the next who knows how long. Instead of gathering the courage fast enough, he handed me the shovel gesturing to the dirt pile and the hole, indicating I should fill it back up. I nodded and began to shovel. It was scant a few seconds later when he finally spoke. 

"Do you smell a rotting corpse?" He asked. I sighed and straightened myself from the few loads I shovelled. 

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for yelling at you and I'm sorry for not thanking you for helping me. Thank you for helping me, but don't start with the insults yet, dude." I told him sincerely. He didn't even look at me, his gaze trained on something further away than what my senses were adjusted to. 

"Get back in the hole." He told me softly. I raised an eyebrow and glared slightly at him, fear immediately and quickly rising from the thought of getting back in there. 

"No. I refuse to get back in that suffocating-" His hand suddenly roughly pushed me backwards into the grave, and as I fell I watched him get tackled by a dark purple blur. I yelped as my body collided with a mixture of the dirt and the coffin, groaning as I slowly pushed myself up. The sounds of fighting could be heard, along with what oddly sounded like marble breaking and cracking, followed by silence, and then a yell of pain. 

"Crepsley?!" I gasped out as I quickly shoved myself up to stand, more sounds of objects breaking made me feel completely useless. Seriously, half-vampire and I'm this bloody useless? 

Two bodies suddenly flew into the grave, snarls and growls coming from the duo. I shoved myself into the corner, my eyes wide as I stared down at the fighting men. 

Holy shit, what even is my life.


	8. Pereche

Their fighting was quick, brutal, and merciless. They had, almost faster than what my eyes could see, stood up and began to slam one another into the wall, knowing I'd just get in the way (and hating it), I decided to try to stay out of the way, despite wanting to get out of the grave, stayed where I was. At one point, Murlough slammed Mr. Crepsley into the wall, went to punch, or what it actually looked like to be a stabbing motion with his nails. Or claws. Punched into the wall, yanked his arm back and pulled a bone out with him. 

Bones aren't supposed to be buried up that high, what the hell is up with this graveyard?! 

The two vamps looked at the bone confused, Murlough's face grinned maliciously as he swung the large bone at his opponent's face, once, twice, each from a different direction, and then the bone broke in half from Crepsley knocking it away before it connected a third time, Murlough swung his hand quickly forward after dropping the bone, attempting once more to stab my mentor (I guess that's what he technically is), and with damn near instant reflexes, stopped his arm's momentum with his hands, barely holding away his claws a few inches from his face. Murlough swung his other arm, immediately blocked and smacked away, Crepsley spun around and began dishing out fast jabs, hitting spots that caused Murlough to grunt in pain and slow slightly. I was honestly mentally cheering my mentor on. 

I didn't even want to know why Murlough was there, but if the look in his eyes, that bloodlust, hunger, hate-fueled and greedy, told me anything every time he looked at me and the simple fury and bloodlust when he faced my mentor, he, or possibly that Mr. Tiny (seriously, that poor child!) wanted me for something dark and dreadful. 

I wanted no part in it. At least not on their side. 

Suddenly, Mr. Crepsley's back was covering my smaller body, my breath hitching in surprise, shock, worry, and something else that I refused to consciously register at the time. Murlough swiped out at Crepsley, and in defense he pushed himself further against me, effectively pining me to the corner in the grave. This was becoming a habit it seemed. A flurry of movements from Murlough caused Crepsley to move just as fast if not faster as he now had to defend not just himself, but me as well. Without pause or notice, Crepsley gently (somehow?) grabbed my head and made me duck, a small squeak of surprise escaping my lips. I was quickly shoved, not so gently this time but not as rough as it could've been, to the other side of the grave as Murlough borderline tackled into my mentor, my eyes hardly following the very fast movements. I swear they were moving faster, and I couldn't help but wonder who exactly would win since it seemed like such a draw. Though one was defending me, it still made me wonder. Murlough grabbed Crepsley by the shoulders and slammed his head into the wall 3 times in quick succession before tossing his body out of the grave, a yell of pained surprise left Crepsely, and then those black eyes, those malevolent black eyes, focused entirely on me. 

I felt my body and insides freeze in complete panic and terror. 

"Hello bag of blood," A spark of my temper lit inside of me, "You're coming with me." 

He unrolled a rather large potato sack; its dust and muskiness blew into my nose unwelcomed. Then his words finally melted me from my terror as I registered his insult. I managed to yelp out a frantic, "Fuck that!" Before a shovel slammed harshly into his face. A hand gripped the back of my dress, slight rips and a few scratches on my bare skin made me yell in surprise, and then fear as I was thrown away from the grave site. Crepsley looked at me, his face broken out in sweat, dark orange curls slightly damp, and his eyes nearly feral with fury, concern, “Run!” and then surprise as the edge of his cloak was grabbed and yanked him into the grave. 

My breaths left me gasping for air, a fight to run and help him, and actually doing what he said, warring angrily within my mind. As I saw the dirt get kicked up, snarls and growls leaving the hole, my body decided for me despite my mind wanting to stay and help. I got up, immediately booking it as fast as I could, graves and marble slab stones marking the burial sites passed by me in blurs. My chest ached as I tried to leave and find somewhere safe to hide, the anxiety and fear holding my heart too tightly in its grasp. 

"No!" I yelped as I was tackled from behind, the only warning I had was a couple nearly silent taps, the sound of shoes, when strong arms wrapped themselves around my waist tightly, too tightly as my breathing was restricted even further. I landed on my side, my head hitting and bouncing off the ground harshly, I barely felt or noticed my body being turned around on its back nor the feeling of being straddled around my hips. I did very much notice when hellish black eyes took up most of my vision along with a ravenous, maniacal grin. 

"Hello little bag of blood." He leaned in and placed his face against my neck, I felt him breathe in deeply, a groan escaping his body as it shuddered. I whimpered and tried to move, to get away from him but he clamped down even harder, one hand holding my wrists with the other tightly gripping my waist (the sound of ripping fabric and then the feeling of my skin slowly being bit into by his claws telling me so), his thighs had my legs pinned so tightly to each other that I honestly could not move them. "You smell so juicy, so fresh, and you feel exquisite my little pereche." 

"Get away from me!" I screeched, a feeling of something extremely heavy twisting my insides harshly. I didn't like that I didn't understand what he had called me, but I didn't like how he had whispered it so reverently and disturbingly into my ear more. His chuckle vibrated my body, I wiggled and tried to buck him off of me, my body barely actually moving. I felt his teeth latch onto my neck near the artery, I froze, my mind shut down. 

He better not- 

Don't you fuck- 

"NO!" I screamed as pain tore through my body, his teeth piercing my soft flesh on my neck and all my body could do was jolt, and then slowly twitch as a powerful suckling sensation went through my body. My mind went blank, his hands wandered, I felt so weak, body trembling as I lifted my hands and began to trail them down his back, forcing myself not to throw up, and on instinct, dug my claws into his lower back, felt my claws digging through muscles and suddenly my hands were yanked away quickly followed by a harsh punch in the middle of my chest, ribs cracking. However, I forced myself to move, to get up, pushing him off of me with strength coming from panic and rage, he growled and snarled as he writhed on the ground in pain from the deep wounds I gave him. I rolled onto my front, ignoring the pull on the quickly healing skin on my waist, shoved myself up and began to run. 

"Not so fast, Pereche!" Murlough exclaimed as he tripped me before I could take two steps away. A scream tore itself from my throat as I landed on my chest and promptly broke my ribs, the cracking sound from my chest churned my stomach. I coughed as I curled up on the ground where I was laying. 

"Ugh," I groaned in pain, feeling my ribs slowly knit themselves together was quite an uncomfortable feeling and experience. I sincerely hope it got easier. 

"You're one of us," Murlough stated as he pulled out his burlap sack once again. "Not one of those filthy vampires." His grin widened, showing blood stained teeth, his black eyes hungry, and within a second, faster than I could react, my vision was covered in blackness. I felt myself get hoisted up and put onto his shoulder which dug into my still partially broken and slowly healing ribs. I felt my stomach roll, nausea nearly causing me to vomit as I felt his hand hold me on the bare skin of my thigh, his claws digging in roughly. I tried to struggle, my body sluggish from the blood sluggishly draining from my neck, the wound also slowly healing, everything felt like lead weight. 

A grunt sounded, I felt myself go flying and a squeak escaping instead of a scream - I may be a chick but I refuse to act like a constant screaming mess – and then I met the ground once more. 

Seriously, this was becoming too much of a regular occurrence. 

I quickly forced myself up, ignoring the throbbing in my body, and as I reached to drag the burlap bag over and off of me, I was swept up into arms once more. Despite that these ones felt friendlier, I still panicked and tried to escape, my own nails/claws tried to scratch at the bag to tear it open. 

"Stop moving and hold your breath!" Crepsley's familiar voice immediately calmed me as I stilled, and thankfully held my breath on command. I felt our pace suddenly get faster, the feeling of pressure on my wounded side making my breath leave me with a pained whimper. Thankfully it was only a few more seconds until we had stopped and he allowed my body to slide out of his arms to stand on its own. The bag was ripped over me, I swayed with the movement, my body sluggish and still throbbing. Clearly my wounds weren't healing as fast as they should've. A growl loudly made itself known as Crepsley quickly caught sight of the condition I was in, my neck covered in blood with the wound still bleeding, the gashes on my waist were leaking blood at a steady rate, much deeper than I thought they were, and I could feel the difficulty my lungs were having in trying to help me breathe. 

"Why aren't we moving?" I gasped out, my chest on fire, my arm gripping his to help steady myself. His arm gently yet firmly wrapped around my upper waist, careful of the gashes, and tucked me into his side. Warmth flooded into my too cold body, relaxing my muscles and causing me to cling to him to stay upright. His normally golden-brown eyes were more of a feral golden color, the lights from the vehicles around us causing them to glow more than they already did. A flash of purple raced and stopped in front of us, revealing Murlough focusing his hungered gaze on me. 

"Don't look behind you." Dark amusement and rage colored Crepsley's tone, Murlough's eyes snapping to him before spinning around in curious surprise. I barely heard the sickening sound of the semi-truck hitting his body before we had flitted away. My eyes closed as I held my breath, his arms had picked me up and cradled me to his chest, just a few minutes later, we stopped, surrounded by walls and trash bins, his gaze scanning the alleyway quickly before placing me down onto an upturned crate. My body sagged and leaned heavily against the building, my mind was beginning to fog over. "What did he do to you...?" 

"Stuff." I croaked out, tears coming unwelcomed to my eyes but I refused to allow them to fall. He was kneeling in front of me, quietly inspecting the visible wounds first. An aggravated sigh left his lips as he finally looked up at me. 

"I need to heal these with my saliva, your healing factor is currently too slow from the still recent change. May I?" He asked quietly. I closed my eyes, barely feeling a tear escape down my cheek as I nodded. I kept them closed, not wanting to see or remember the way Murlough had touched me. I heard an aggravated sigh. "I'm going to need to use my mouth. There is simply too much blood being lost to properly use my hands." 

"Do what you need to do." I whispered as I felt his hands hesitatingly and gently held my chin and shoulder, he maneuvered me to get to my neck first. My breathing hitched as I felt his soft tongue slide over my skin, thankfully only over the bite mark, one stroke was soon quickly followed by more, almost feeling like they were frantic, as if he couldn't get enough of my blood. I felt my blood light up in flames, my heart pounding, fluttering like a butterfly's wings, his hands shook slightly, as if restraining himself. His tongue wasn't painful in any way, I was mentally thankful for this, however I continued to feel that odd twisting feeling in my lower abdomen once more, every once in a while, causing my body to tremble with an odd feeling. It made me want to gasp, moan, beg, anything to keep his attention on me. 

It was terrifying and mortifying. 

Especially if he had better senses, including scent. I immediately thought of Murlough, knowing this would slam down on whatever was going on with my body, and thankfully the odd pulls and urges faded away rather quickly. Barely a moment after, he pulled away, his eyes hazy, glowing golden, hot like melted metal, and quickly moved to the wound on my waist, his tongue gently and eagerly lapping up at the blood currently oozing from there. This one didn't take very long as just a couple more moments afterwards, he pulled away, his grip releasing itself slowly, making sure not to possibly scare me any further I assumed. 

"Are there any other wounds? Aside from ones I have seen?" He asked me seriously, his gaze piercing into my soul (or lack thereof? Did vampires have souls?) and I found myself unable to lie to him, knowing he's know it instantly. I hesitated before nodding, feeling ashamed. "Where?" 

"My ribs and my thigh..." I rasped quietly, my chest aching with anything more than slight gasps of breath. My thigh felt sticky from where Murlough had grabbed on roughly, and I felt acute embarrassment and shame filling me at what he had done, what I had unintentionally allowed him to do. 

"May I?" Crepsely hesitated before gesturing towards my chest, silently asking if he could feel and figure out a way to help. I nodded, although it felt more like my head lolled forward on its own than anything. He slowly reached out and gently began to put pressure on my ribs, hisses and groans of pain rapidly escaped my mouth taking whatever breaths I had with them. He scowled as he felt around, and even I could tell that the bones weren't setting right. He growled softly, the sound causing my body to shudder though he seemed to assume it was pain (I can't say it wasn't, but that wasn't just pain), and pulled away slightly. He grabbed my chin softly and made me focus on him. 

His eyes were calmer now, though they still held that fury deep inside. 

A beautiful dusty gold. 

A unique golden-brown color. 

Blood loss must be hitting me harder than I thought. 

"I need to reset your ribs. That means I have to break them again and tie something around them for the next few days. Do you understand?" His smooth, deep, and yet soft voice cleared the haze over my head just enough for me to realize, think, and agree with what needed to be done. He pulled out a leather glove and told me to bite on it. I opened my mouth, the glove went in just enough so my teeth could hold it in place lightly, he pulled off his coat and then his red vest, using his claws to cut into the fabric. My eyes were drawn to the physique of his body. The shirt strained slightly in some places, revealing toned muscles despite his more lithe and agile body, some parts of the shirt curled and wrapped around him, accenting his biceps, forearms, shoulders - I promptly tore my gaze away, gritting my teeth against the glove slightly. He glanced at me worriedly. My body was shaking slightly, an unusual and weird feeling burning through my body, along with the pain my ribs caused me. "This will hurt. On the count of three. Ready?" 

I nodded and relaxed myself. 

"One-" A harsh pressure snapped my ribs, my eyes clamped shut, a choked scream was blocked by the grip my teeth had on his dark maroon leather glove, my own nails biting into the palms of my hands, and then suddenly my vision went black. The last few things I can remember, was the sound of him cursing, the feeling of my body falling, and then the warmth and feelings of safe and protection surrounding me. 

I knew no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I recently just got the books, so what i'm going to do is read those once i've gotten to the end of the movie, and anything i've missed ill either go back and edit it in or twist it to interact with the story a bit better, or just leave it out. I have the first 4 books, and the last 4 will probably have to wait a few weeks for me to order them. Bare with me you guys, i'll do my best!


	9. Nightmare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for not updating, this has been an insane year. I have a new work rotation going on, I am hoping that since work will be more set in a schedule and that things are more up front and settled that hopefully, hopefully... I will be able to actually write again. I hope you can forgive me.

"Why did you bring a child here, Larten?" 

Mr. Crepsley? 

"Mr. Tiny wants her, and so do the Vampaneze. She was nearly killed because of one of my enemies. I barely managed to save her life and I need a safe place to hide her." 

What the hell? Why do I need to hide? 

"Mr. Tiny? What does he have to do with her?" 

"I'm not sure, but whenever Tiny aims to try and get something, I make it my policy to prevent him from getting it." 

"That's a dangerous policy." 

Why can't I move? And why are they talking about me?! I slowly felt my body wake up finally, numbness followed by a sharp throb of pain caused me to hiss quietly. Though not quietly enough as the conversation had stopped immediately and two sets of footsteps made their way over. One was heavy and pronounced, the other light and barely there. I shifted slightly and felt my ribs contract in a way, pulling and pushing simultaneously making me wish I could curl up in a ball and just cry. A hand gently placed itself on my curly auburn hair, though it was probably insanely knotted and going to be a monster to brush later on, a soft 'shh' left the person above me. 

Panic filled my being, as images of Murlough, my father, and someone else filled my mind, my body jolting up and away, immediately into the closest corner of the tent-like area, where I stayed for who knows how long to try and calm down from hyperventilating. Crepsley stayed standing with his hands up in a non-threatening gesture, and the gentleman behind him, Mr. Tall if I remembered right, simply backed away and sat down, just quietly observing the scene in front of him. "You're safe, nobody here will hurt you. That's Mr. Tall, I'm Larten Crepsley-" 

"Where are we?!" I wheezed out slightly, my eyes glancing everywhere while never taking Crepsley completely out of my vision, somehow, I dubbed Mr. Tall as completely non-threatening. He took a step closer to me, on instinct I felt myself growl deeply, glaring warningly up at him as my hands curled into a clawing gesture at my sides, ready to attack if he took another step. He paused and decided to not move any further. 

"We're in the Cirque's Winter Campgrounds. We will hopefully be staying here for a little while until such time we are ready to move on. Preferably once you're trained." 

"Trained for what? Why am I here?" 

"Trained to defend yourself, and so you will be protected by more people than just me." He explained slowly. I felt myself slightly begin to relax as he continued to stay in his spot. A presence in my mind gently planted itself next to my mental self, the feeling of safety and protection curling around me and calming me further, until a question occurred to me. 

"Why does M-Murlough," I choked on his name, fear welling up within me just from his name, "want me so badly? I don't understand what's happening..." 

Mr. Tall quietly and slowly began to talk, carefully considering his words. "There is something different about you, something unnatural compared to their normal biology. However, we are unsure as to what this difference may be." 

I slowly pushed myself into a standing position, although unsteady and swaying on the spot, and began to think deeply. Words began to pour out of my mouth, thoughts and curious wonderings. "If there's something that biologically different, then what caused it? He seemed curious enough before I turned, creepy and disturbing but normal, and that Mr. Tiny, he seemed to just be curious about my soul. But... but Murlough, he – he seemed to become obsessed at the cemetery." 

"What do you mean? Obsessed, how exactly?" Crepsley asked, his hands lowered as he looked towards me seriously, his emotions normally slightly visible in his eyes were now completely and carefully masked. I swallowed, weird fluttering in my body made me feel even more nervous and hesitant to say what happened in the graveyard. 

"Do I really need to say it? Based off my injuries, I had assumed it would be obvious." I whispered unwillingly, his eyes seemed to glitter slightly as I spoke as if hypnotizing me. 

Actually, that wouldn't be a huge surprise. 

I noticed how both him and Mr. Tall tensed rigidly, my own body instinctively tensing and waiting for a punishment for what had happened in the graveyard, despite knowing it wasn't my fault and that considering I'm only half-vampire, just a recently turned one as well, I didn't stand a chance to begin with. Crepsley turned just enough to be able to see Mr. Tall, his face questioning, and after receiving a nod from him, looked back to me. 

"You will have to help out around the camp, everyone here pitches in. Of course, not until you're completely healed just to be safe." Mr. Tall spoke to me, I bowed my head in thanks, my eyes still on the dark orange haired vampire in the room. 

"It would be an honor, Mr. Tall. I'll help out the best I can." I reassured, he smiled slightly in thanks as a flash of relief and pride came and went over Crepsley's almost blank expression. 

"There will also be a few rules while we are staying here Miss. Shan." Crepsely told me warningly. I raised an eyebrow slightly in surprise and curiosity at both his tone and the use of my last name. 

"If they're reasonable, then I don't see why there might be a problem." I replied nervously, not liking the way he was standing as if ready to pounce if I had so much as twitched. 

"Rules are as follows; rule 1, you will help out around the grounds whenever it is needed or asked. Rule 2, you will do the chores that I am unable to fully complete during the day. Rule 3, You are not allowed to miss any training, though I will give you the next couple of weeks to try and get used to having a different biology, so to speak." I nodded, those rules seemed okay if a bit degrading aside from helping out around the campgrounds. "Rule 4, you are not allowed to leave the grounds without someone with you." 

"Excuse me?" I exclaimed in surprise. That was not at all what I was expecting. I wasn't good around lots of people, and I preferred to keep to myself. Helping out is one thing because I simply get told what to do and possibly how to do it, however being forced around people I don’t know, nor trust, is like asking a regular person to walk down the street naked! 

Okay, maybe not that dramatic but it still felt the same. 

"And if I just want some time on my own without you or someone I neither know or trust, where should I go then? Hm?" I sassed, and I have to say, as good as it felt to stand up for myself, I also regretted it. His gaze hardened, I felt my courage sizzle into nothing, and my body shake ever so slightly. 

He could probably see it. 

Damn him. 

"You will also be sharing a tent with myself. There are no currently available spaces-" 

"And nobody is comfortable with a vampire, no matter what they say." I muttered coldly. I might not have too much experience with socializing with people, but enough books have been written and read that I understood what being a vampire would influence around people. His eyes narrowed at my interruption, however, he did nod in acknowledgment of my statement, knowing that I knew and would understand others reactions to me. 

"Now, it's been a long night, for both of us. I will wish you a good night Mr. Tall, and thank you for allowing us to stay." Crepsley expressed his gratitude. Mr. Tall nodded towards both him and myself, a small welcoming smile being sent towards me. I felt my lips twitch slightly and smile softly in return. Crepsley allowed the small exchange before nearly barking out a "Come." 

"Yes, Master." I murmured quietly under my breath, feeling as if I was a dog on an invisible leash. I noticed his shoulders tense and then forcibly relax, a smirk plastered itself on my face in realizing that I might've just said a trigger word that could hopefully annoy him. We walked through the grounds, some people ignoring us, a few nodding to him, and then others glaring at me unwelcoming. While I knew this would happen, it was still very uncomfortable, and nerve-wracking. Especially since a lot of the ones who stared or glared at me stopped their conversations and watched us walk past. Quickly, I moved up to walk next to my mentor, my nerves fried and mood bouncing everywhere, all I wanted was some peace and quiet. He glanced at me, a frown slightly marring his features, but with the sudden position change, I noticed he had scars on his face. 4 of them. 3 in a downward slash from just under his left eye, and another going from his left temple and almost reaching his jaw. 

Someone got him good.... 

And for some reason it made me angry. 

"We are here, there is a bed set up for you in the second door on your left, this is the main sitting room." I gazed around in awe, the colors of maroon, blood red, black, orange, along with blackout curtains along the windows, a soft black couch, and tucked away slightly in the corner was a mahogany desk with Madame Octa waving through the bars towards me, made the room feel surprisingly home-like. I grinned upon seeing Octa, feeling myself brighten up upon seeing her okay and happy. I jogged over and opened the cage, a sound of distressed protest behind me that I promptly ignored, and scooped up the beautiful blue, purple and red spider. She squeaked excitedly towards me, and I cuddled her close to my cheek whispering how happy I am to see her, how I'm happy that she was okay. I felt myself yawn, exhaustion making itself known rudely in the midst of my reassuring her I was okay, Octa rubbed one of her legs against my cheek and then looked to her cage. I placed her back in, closed the hatch, and turned around. 

"You shouldn't do that, she is quite poisonous after all. You could've been badly hurt or killed by her poison." He lectured me. I sighed and turned away (I know it was rude, but I was tired), walking to the room he was lending to me. 

"She wouldn't do that, she's too careful, and she likes me." I told him over my shoulder. "I'm going to bed, night." 

The last thing I heard was a harsh and annoyed sigh from the sitting room before the door shut, then I quickly locked it. I moved to the bed, frowning as everything caught up to me, I fell onto the bed lightly with the plan of thinking over everything, but once my head settled onto the plain white pillows, my world went dark. 

\---Line Break--- 

"My little pereche." A voice cooed at me, its roughness almost silky as it flowed over an unknown word. A slight accent distorted the voice more, rough hands gripped my waist, puffs of air against my neck, a firm lower body pressed firmly against my own. I didn't open my eyes just yet, they felt like there was a fabric tied over them, and my body felt unnaturally cold despite the heat of whoever was on top of me. 

I didn't like this. 

Something's wrong. 

I wiggled a little, a pull on my wrists alerted me to their being tied up, I tried to move my legs but I could only move them slightly wider or slightly closer. This made me start to panic. I couldn't see, and I could barely move, lips began to trail down my bare skin, proving without a shadow of doubt that I was naked. Claws slightly dug into my waist on both sides, drawing a startled gasp and whimper of pain, I could feel blood dripping down to whatever soft surface was underneath me which left behind a metallic tint in the air. 

"Let me go!" I pleaded to whomever was on top of me, his rough and slightly maniacal laugh made my stomach clench and turn, nearly tossing my cookies, so to speak. 

"But my little pereche, we're having such fun!" He teased lightly, a calloused hand cupped my cheek as lips began to pepper my face with kisses. I jerked my head away, a shout of 'don't' escaping my mouth before a groan was heard as he forced my face to meet his in a hungry and forceful kiss. I kept trying to pull away, but his unusually sharp teeth hurt, nicking my lips and whispered in a language I didn't understand as he ground his hips into me. 

"Let me go! Please stop!" I begged, tears wetting the blindfold as I managed to jerk my head away from his grip, his mouth trailing down to my neck. 

"Why must you fight me pereche? Nobody else will ever care for you, nobody will ever come for you, you are mine. Always and forever. I won't use you like those filthy vampires will." A dark chuckle had my fear shooting up, nearly making me delirious. Then a light was suddenly blinding me, the rough cloth covering my eyes now gone. I whimpered from fear curling through my body as I was terrified, I knew who had me in their grasp, but as my eyes adjusted and looked up to the man assaulting me, all my mind could do was freeze. 

Murlough grinned, pleased at whatever look I was giving him. 

Something in me clenched and fear finally choked a sound out of my throat. 

I screamed.


End file.
